Wayward Son
by Guardian of Hope
Summary: Justin falls through a swirling vortex and ends up on Atlantis. The expedition is up a creek, and Justin is the paddle. A very reluctant, very unhappy paddle. SGA/PR X-over AU OCs
1. Swirling Vortex of Doom

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis is part of the Stargate Franchise, Power Rangers belongs to Saban; not me.

A/N: I don't know the voices of SGA as well as I do Justin Stewart, so be kind. This is MASSIVELY AU.

* * *

Sheppard glanced around at his team; Lieutenant Ford stood uneasily, excited to be headed through the Gate but concerned about what they would face. Teyla was calm, hands easy on her P-90 as she looked back at him. McKay was, for a brief moment, silent. As he looked at Sheppard, though, his mouth opened, "Well, what are we waiting for? I thought we had a mission to go on?"

Sheppard smiled, "Let's go then." He reached up to activate his radio and request they dial the gate when a sound not unlike thunder ripped through the room accompanied by a strong gust of wind. Sheppard didn't think, he moved in front of Rodney, lifting his P-90, looking for the threat.

"Oh my god," Rodney said, his hand appeared over John's shoulder, pointing at the gate.

In the middle of the Stargate was a slowly growing vortex. It was blue, olive green and black, with purple lightning flickering from its depths. "Doctor Weir," Sheppard asked, "do you see it?"

"I see it, Major," Dr. Weir replied.

Another crack of thunder shook the Gate Room, followed by sound. A high wailing noise, like an alarm was first, a three tone cry of warning and imminent danger, then a computer voice speaking a language Sheppard didn't understand. Finally, human voices, making Sheppard glance at Ford, who had dove in front of Teyla

"Justin, get back! You have to take a pod." Someone shouted. From his voice, John thought he was an older guy, probably terrified out of his mind.

"I got it, Merlon," someone else responded; young, male, brave and reckless no doubt.

"Justin, the station is going to blow in less than thirty _mirtaks_. You don't have time." Merlon said.

"Would you shut up and let me focus," Justin replied, exasperated. Silence, save for the alarms and the crackling, roaring sound of the vortex, descended.

"McKay, what do you think that is?"

"A swirling vortex of doom?" McKay offered, "If you would move so I could scan it."

"No," Sheppard replied, his gut clenching. "You do your tests behind me, from here. We don't know if that thing is dangerous."

"Oh, for heaven's sake," McKay growled. Then he ducked around Sheppard and advanced on the portal, scanner in hand.

"McKay!" Sheppard snapped and followed him, "Stay back from it. I do not want to lose someone right in the middle of the Gate Room!"

The alarms altered, from three part harmony to two part dissonance making Sheppard wince and Rodney wave his scanner at the vortex insistently. "Got it Merlon," Justin crowed triumphantly, "I told you. Now let me do something about these fires."

"All right," Merlon replied, "good job, Justin."

"I learned from the…aw hell," Justin said.

Whatever else he was about to say was overridden by a computerized voice in a foreign language.

"Yeah, yeah," Justin muttered when it was done. "Shit."

"Justin!"

A building roar and a scream made John pull Rodney back and down moments before fire began to flicker out of the vortex. John watched it warily, then the roar reached its peak, making him cover his ears, and something on fire was flying out of the vortex. It hit the ground and started to roll. John blinked, and then realized it was a human, trying to roll out the flames. He didn't even think he was out of his tac vest and pack in the time it took him to stand, he had a blanket from his back in the three strides it took him to cross to the person and he quickly began to slap the flames with the fire-retardant material.

When the fire was out, the man lay on his side for a moment, and then rolled on his back with a moan. John caught a quick impression of blue-black hair and blue eyes before the eyes closed and he relaxed. John knelt and reached for a pulse, careful of the burned skin, and found it, weak and unsteady. He lifted his hand to his ear, "Doctor Beckett, we need you in the Gate Room for a medical emergency."

"What?" Dr. Beckett replied, his brogue thick, "But you haven't even left yet! How can you have a medical emergency if you haven't left Atlantis?"

"I'll explain it to you when you get that here with a medical team," Sheppard replied tightly. "Have someone set up a burn unit."

"Burns," Dr. Beckett repeated. "We're on our way to the control room now, Major."

"Not the control room, the Gate Room, as in, I have a kid in need of medical attention lying on the ground in front of the Stargate." Sheppard snapped tightly.

"Right," Dr. Beckett said. Moments later, he led the medical team in and Sheppard backed off. "What happened?"

"He came through a vortex on fire," Sheppard replied.

Dr. Beckett nodded and turned to the young man and the medical team. Sheppard glanced around, Ford and Teyla were still on the stairs, although Teyla had Ford backing away as she spoke to him. Sheppard considered it a moment and decided that the Athosian leader was giving Ford a piece of her mind for his attempt to protect her. He looked away and found McKay standing close to the Stargate with a device in his hand that he was frowning at. Sheppard moved around the medical team on his way to McKay. A quick glance showed Markham and Stackhouse among the marines nearby. "Sergeant Stackhouse," Sheppard said, "you and Markham provide security for our guest. I want one person with him unless or until I tell you otherwise or Doctor Beckett needs privacy for a medical procedure."

Stackhouse saluted and Sheppard nodded. The good thing about having Marines to boss was that they were very good at following orders, especially during the aftermath of an unusual occurrence. "Major Sheppard," Dr. Weir called.

Sheppard turned and looked up at the team expedition leader, "Yes, Doctor Weir," he replied.

"My office, please," Dr. Weir said before heading back into said office.

"Yes ma'am," Sheppard said as he started back towards the stairs, over his shoulder, he added, "Let Doctor Weir and I know what happened as soon as possible, McKay."

He didn't actually understand McKay's response, but Sheppard would bet his last bars of chocolate that the man had been as unflattering to him as he always had been.


	2. This Ain't Kansas Dorothy

The first thing Justin Stewart noticed as a steady and somewhat annoying electronic beeping tone. He knew he knew that tone, but he couldn't place it. Next, he heard the murmur of conversation happening just below his hearing threshold. He took a breath and let the scents come to him, sterile and antiseptic, with a touch of medicine and mint that he always associated with hospitals and medical centers. A second breath carried in scents of salt water and fish. Feelings began to filter in, he was lying on his stomach and his back felt hot and tight with the tingling itch of healing. The tingling ran from the small of his back up his spine to his shoulders, following the edge of his scapula to his shoulders and down both arms to his hands. He twitched a hand and felt rough sheets under his fingers. Soft enough to have been used and washed a few times, but still stiff from being new.

Something was wrong, he knew, something didn't feel right. He relaxed and listened to his body, letting the sensations slide over him. Finally, he twitched his hand out of annoyance. He couldn't figure out what was wrong and lying down healing had never been his favorite past time. Then he went still, because his _hand_ had twitched, not his leg. Justin had always been moving as a kid, but it had been his legs more than anything, always there had been somewhere to go, something or someone to see. He tried to move his leg, but it wouldn't. He whimpered as it clicked.

He couldn't feel his legs being healed, but his spine was. He couldn't move his legs with his mind. Justin went back in his memory, skipping memories until he reached the start of the panic.

It had been Regula that had thrown him, assigned from the Eltarean Ranger Studies Program to the Ranger Tech platform on Regula, Just ha d been young and eager six months ago. Classes were going to start up again soon and Justin was preparing to leave. Then the pirates had attacked, without warning and in such numbers, that Regula's weak defenses had been hard pressed to stop. When the Tech platform had been threatened, the team had followed protocol, setting the self destruct, locked by Justin because he was an Earthian Human and the lease likely to be genetically matched among the raiders.

Then the others had fled, until the last pod was set to deploy. He'd ordered them to go, knowing he would be fine, but not giving them the assurance they craved that he would be safe. Help showed up at the last minute, even as Justin had used every trick short of actually morphing to keep it intact. The arrival of the defense groups had led Justin to cut the self destruct, only to realized that he was still screwed, because after so long, the only place to shut it off was also on fire. He had gone, despite being ordered by everyone to get out.

He remembered shutting down the self destruct, and trying to get the fire suppressors active before realizing that the console he was using was about to suffer an energy overload. He'd run for it, because former Ranger or not, he wouldn't have survived standing so close to the console when it went. He'd been steps from the door when he'd spotted the vortex in his path, had hesitated, and then been shoved through the portal by the shockwave from the explosion.

"I don't understand," someone said, "what do you mean?"

"I mean he is healing at an incredibly fast rate. I've never seen such a fast recovery before."

Justin decided that now would be a good time to get out of his head and back into the lad of the living. He moaned and began to move. "Sounds like he's beginning to wake up," someone, a woman, observed quietly.

Justin opened his eyes and found that he was looking at a soldier with a gun. He studied the man, who was watching him nervously. He didn't recognize the uniform, but the American flag on his arm did tell Justin that he was probably back on Earth. He swallowed and met the man's eyes, "Why do I get the feeling that I'm not in Kansas anymore?" He asked quietly.

"Probably because you aren't," the soldier replied, a hesitant smile on his face for the joke. Then he looked up, "Doctor Beckett, he's awake."

Another man appeared in his line of sight, "Hello," he said cautiously, giving the soldier a nervous look. "I'm Doctor Carson Beckett lad. Do you know who you are?"

Justin smiled tightly, "My name is Justin Stewart," he replied, "I was born in California, but I haven't been there in a few years. Not since I turned eighteen." He shifted slightly, "I'm allergic to acetaminophen and penicillin and I'd like to know what happened to me because I'm not sure I can feel my legs."

Dr. Beckett reached over and touched his arm slightly, "That, I can explain," he said, "you arrived in the Gate Room on fire. The numbness you feel is a result of the burn gel we used on your legs because of their extensive burns. Your back and shoulders weren't as burned so we didn't use the gel there." He picked up a file, "Thank you for telling me about your allergies, I'll make a note of it in your chart."

Justin nodded, "Now then, where am I? I know that I'm not on Regula, or anywhere else in the League. Your soldier has an American flag on his uniform, but you're Scottish, and I've never seen walls like that on Earth. I remember the portal, although I'm still not sure where it came from."

Dr. Beckett glanced at the soldier, who just looked right back at him, "I think there are people better able to explain that fully and they'll be here soon. Now, I have a question to ask you," he looked at Justin for a long moment, "how can you heal as fast as you appear to be healing? According to your blood work, you're human."

Justin closed his eyes and summed up his standard lie, "I'm just a fast healer, Doc, nothing magical about that. My dad said I got it from my mom."

"I don't believe that," Dr. Beckett replied, "you've gone from having severe burns to looking like you've gotten a sunburn in three hours."

"Three hours," Justin repeated, "that's not possible." He was a retired Ranger, he shouldn't heal that fast, even if he did heal faster than most retired, unpowered Rangers. He pushed himself up and onto his side, "Did I have a bag when I showed up here?" He asked, "It was a brown messenger bag with a navy strip and blue beading on it."

"Aye," Dr. Beckett replied.

"May I have it," Justin asked, "I need to see something." _It's not possible,_ he thought.

Dr. Beckett bit his lipped and looked across the room, and relaxed, "I'll get your bag," he said, "as long as you stay in bed."

"He's awake then?" Someone, clearly American, asked.

"Aye, Major," Dr. Beckett said.

Justin turned to find another soldier approaching the bed, "That hair can't be military," he blurted out before he could stop himself.

"It is," the man said, "I'm Major John Sheppard, I'm the military commander here."

"Justin Stewart," Justin replied, blushing at his thoughtless remark, "Formerly of Earth." He shrugged, "At least, where I come from I'm formerly of Earth. I'm not sure where I am on this side of the portal, though."

"Not on Earth," Major Sheppard replied, "this is Atlantis."


	3. Nailing JellO To A Tree

Disclaimer: Still don't own Power Rangers or Stargate Atlantis. I also do not own Jell-O

A/N: If you can't tell, I've been building a world for Justin to come from that has very little to do with anything I've written before.

* * *

John watched as the boy, Justin, processed the information while Carson headed off towards his office. Finally, Justin nodded, "Ok," he said, "I can work with that." He drummed his fingers lightly, "So, is this a colony? Did Earth send out another ship like Terra Venture?"

"We're a colony," John said, "of sorts, but I've never heard of Terra Venture."

"What about Eltare, Aquitar, KO-35 or Javor?" Justin said.

"More colonies?" John guessed.

"No," Justin said, he let out a sigh, "KO- 35 is a human colony, but they aren't from Earth, and Javor is a mixed colony. Eltare and Aquitar are home planets for other sentient beings."

"To the best of my knowledge," John said, "I've never heard of any of those places. I can ask Rodney or Elizabeth, they know more about the Milky Way and all of that better than I do, or Teyla, she knows the Pegasus Galaxy."

"Eltare isn't in the Milky Way," Justin replied, "nor is KO-35. Aquitar and Javor are, though. Aquitar is the equivalent of our next door neighbors. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know about the Aquitians though. Aquitar's a water planet."

"He's awake," Rodney said as he strode into the infirmary, "thank you for telling me, Major." He dumped a bag on Justin's bed, "Here; I didn't open it."

"You mean," Justin said as he drew the bag closer to his chest, "you couldn't open it." He avoided their gazes as he pulled the bag around to reveal some intricate blue beading on one side. "Don't think you'll be able to when I'm done with it, either. Apparently, privacy is something you people have no use for." He pressed his hand on the beads and hissed softly, there was a flash of blue-white light from them as he lifted his hand and then it opened.

"Rodney," John said, turning away from Justin, "how did you get that bag?"

"I found it," Rodney replied, "on the ground by the 'Gate. It's giving off some of the oddest energy readings, so I brought it down to my lab to figure out why. Carson said it belonged to him, and Elizabeth told me to give it back."

John opened his mouth to say something more, "_Girisha_, Carlos, you demon-born son of a Quantron. When I get back, I am going to turn you pink!"

When he turned around, John couldn't help his snort of amusement. Justin's hand was covered in bright green slime that dripped back into his bag. "What is that?" Rodney asked.

"A prank," Justin replied, "from the guy who gave me the bag. I thought I'd taken care of it, but apparently, I missed a trigger. I hope this didn't ruin anything." He stuck his other hand into the bag with a frown, which changed to happiness. "Good," he said, and pulled out a blue band and what looked like a sheet of glass. He glanced around, "Could someone get me a towel, please?"

"I hope that's not poisonous," Rodney muttered.

"It's not," Justin said, "it's just Jell-O that's been put in a microwave and then frozen and allowed to thaw. I wouldn't eat it, and it feels disgusting, but it's not harmful."

"Why would anyone do that to Jell-O," Rodney fretted.

"Intergalactic Prank Week," Justin said. "I heard that they had Rocky in tears. Thank the GP that Regula and Eltare don't have Greens this cycle, AdonKrev and the Earthians are bad enough." He grinned at the nurse, "Thanks," he said, and began to clean off his hand.

"Justin," John said, "this is Doctor Rodney McKay, our chief scientist. Tell him those places you were talking about, he might have heard of them."

"Sure," Justin said. "Pleasure to meet you Doc."

"My name is not 'Doc'," Rodney said, "You may call me Doctor McKay."

"Whatever," Justin replied as he inspected his hand, "here's hoping I won't turn purple." He picked up the blue band he'd retrieved from the bag and snapped it around his wrist with a soft sigh. "Have you ever heard of Eltare, Regula, AdonKrev, KO-35, Aquitar or Javor?"

"No, what are they," Rodney replied after a moment.

"Allies," Justin said. "Eltare gave us the technology we needed when Earth joined the Great War. AdonKrev maintains strong ties with Earth because of the Rangers. Aquitar once defended us when our Rangers were incapable, and later one of our own moved there. He went for healing, and stayed for love and access to the kind of technology Heinlein and George Lucas dream up. Javor is one of the nearest Human colonies, and another one of ours married their Red. KO-35 and Earth became allies during the War after KO-35 fell and their Red gave morphers to Earth's team. Regula was, essentially, the planet I was on when I came through the portal." He studied the two of them, and sighed, "I can see that things are a lot different around here."

"Why were you on Regula?" John asked.

"I am friends with the Astros," Justin said, "after my dad died, I dropped out of college. Zhane helped me get accepted to the Eltarean _Kuwivitch_, which is kind of like a college, but it's…not. During the summer, I do work study at different Eltarean labs rather than go back to Earth. This year, I was assigned to the Lab on Regula."

"You dropped out of college," Rodney said.

"Yeah," Justin said," he looked away from them, "I know I was on my way to getting two Masters and all, but it was just theory. There was no way Earth would develop the kind of technology that I could really sink my teeth in before I was fifty, or even sixty. When Zhane offered to get me into the _Kuwivitch_, it was a chance to actually study things like star drives, and teleportation modules, and all the advanced technology I could dream of. For my end of year project this past year, I built a single person transportation device using the spatial sequencing modules used in Zord construction and the antigravity and shields from the Astro Gliders. Came out to be the size of a skate board when in use, shrinks down to the size of a pink eraser when it's stored. I chose practical experience over theory, and maybe I had to learn a few languages to do it but it was worth it." Justin turned back to them, "I'm not a scientist, Doctor McKay. I'm an inventor."

"How old are you," John asked.

"The general translation of my age from Galactic Standardized, given the leap decades and adjustments for planetary rotation and orbital differences," Justin said, "is twenty-seven. On Earth, I'm twenty-one. My dad died when I was seventeen. I left Earth on my eighteenth birthday. I entered the tenth grade when I was twelve and graduated at fifteen. My Earthian education consists of my high school diploma and two bachelors from Cal Tech, mathematics and computer science. My Eltarean education includes my pilot/navigator's license, and level three engine repair certificate. I'm working my way towards a ship builder's apprenticeship in the next few years. I also have obtained the Power Rank of High Apprentice from the Ranger Collegium."

John glanced over at Rodney, who looked like he was going to either pop a blood vessel or something. Justin frowned, "Weren't you supposed to explain Atlantis to me? I'd really like to know how an Earthian myth wound up being another planet."

"We believe the myth was created," Rodney said, "because of the city. Atlantis was built by a race we call the Ancients, who lived on Earth millions of years ago. They built a series of interconnected devices called the Stargates that use wormholes to allow people to go between them." The scientist sat down in the chair by Justin's bed, relaxing as he spoke of something he knew. "The Ancients were suffering from a plague, so they sent their city, this city, Atlantis, here, to the Pegasus Galaxy. Unfortunately, they found an enemy here they couldn't defeat, so they decided that they would sink the city beneath the ocean, protected by a shield, and gate back to Earth. We're here to see what we can learn about the Ancients."

"What about their enemy?" Justin asked.

"Yeah," John said, "they're still around to." Justin nodded, "They are called the Wraith, and they feed on Human life energy like some kind of psychic vampire."

Justin looked at him for a long moment, and then away, his eyes reflecting a deep seated sadness and fear. Whatever he was thinking, he didn't seem inclined to share, a fact made pointedly clear when he dug his shoulder into his pillow, facing away from them. Carson popped up and took one look, "He's asleep," the Scottish doctor announced, "poor lad."

John nodded and put his hand on Rodney's shoulder, "Come on," he said, "let's go talk to Elizabeth, again." He nodded at Markham, who stood a discrete guard over the young man. "Keep him here if you can, Doctor Beckett," he said, "at least until Elizabeth has decided what to do with him."


	4. I AM RETIRED and not a lad

Disclaimer: Nope, no owning Power Rangers or Stargate Atlantis, sorry.

A/N: Yeah, I had a bit of fun here. T.K. is an OC, the first of many.

* * *

_Justin was surrounded by blue, it swirled around him like water, made distinctive by the different shades of blue. He rested there, letting the color drift about him, basking in the familiar Power. An image appeared in front of him, the Turbo morpher. He frowned and pushed the image away. He didn't need a reminder of what had been. A second image, this time of the blue Turbo Ranger, made him whimper. Why couldn't he just enjoy the Power, what was the purpose in showing him what he'd left behind?_

_Storm Blaster faded into being in front of him, "No," Justin said. The image vanished._

_Blue Turbo fought strange, gray creatures with tentacles, the Wraith his mind told him. "No," Justin whimpered, "I won't."_

_John Sheppard was held down by a Wraith, being fed on. "I can't," Justin said, turning away._

_Rodney, chained by men in alien uniforms, forced to work with ancient equipment. "No," Justin said._

_A blue crystal appeared before him, glowing with Power that was Turbo, but somehow more. "No!" Justin protested._

He jerked upright, the word dying on his lips as he panted. "Are you all right, sir?"

Justin yelped as he twisted to look at the person talking to him, it was a marine with a gun, "What?" Justin asked as he stared at him, memory giving him the few facts he had.

"Are you all right?" The marine repeated, "That looked like a bad dream."

Justin thought back to the dream and shook his head, "It wasn't bad," he said, "Just disturbing." He looked around the darkened infirmary, "What time is it?"

"When the scientists figure it out," the marine said, "I'll let you know."

Justin glanced back at him, "Rotation here isn't Earth standard, huh? Is it longer or shorter?"

"Longer," the marine said.

"Fun," Justin muttered, he glanced down, "How did I end up on my back, anyway?"

"You did it," the marine said, "in your sleep. Doctor Beckett said it could happen when the numbness wore off."

"Right," Justin said, he pushed back the covers and slid his legs over the edge of the bed. "My name is Justin, by the way."

"T.K.," the marine replied with a pained smile, "I go by T.K.."

"All right, T.K.," Justin said, "I don't suppose you know where the refresher is, do you?"

"The what?" T.K. asked.

Justin thought for a moment before he remembered the right term, "The head."

"Oh, it's right over there," T.K. pointed.

Carefully, Justin stood up, one hand on the bed in case he wobbled. Finding himself steady, he grinned at T.K., "I'll be right back." He walked over to the bathroom and locked himself inside. He took three stumbling steps to the sink and stared at his haunted expression. As he stared, his brown eyes lightened to summer-sky blue, and his hair darkened to a rich blue-black that was more blue than black. "No," Justin whispered. "No, I'm not a Ranger, I'm _retired."_ The images of his dream flickered through his mind and he shook his head. "I don't have a team, I'm a retired ranger. I don't even have a team anymore."

The blue crystal presented itself in his mind's eye. The beautifully cut, summer-sky gem was the size of Justin's palm, if not bigger. _"No,"_ he hissed and turned the tap on viciously. He splashed the water on his face, forcing all thoughts of the crystal and the Power from his thoughts. He turned off the tap and dried his face, then stepped back out into the infirmary.

Dr Beckett was waiting for him with T.K., who looked guilty. "There you are," Dr Beckett said.

"Here I am," Justin said cautiously.

"Traditionally," Dr Beckett said, "you should ask before getting out of bed, lad."

Justin stiffened, "I am _not a child,"_ he snarled.

"What?" Dr Beckett asked, startled.

"_Don't_ call me _lad._ I'm twenty-seven, excuse me, twenty-one, I can vote, I can drink and I can die for my country." Justin said, "I _haven't_ been a child since before puberty. My name is Justin Bradley Stewart, if you can't call me Justin, call me Ranger Stewart. The _Power_ knows I _earned_ that title."

"This is my infirmary," Dr Beckett said, "and in it, everyone is a lad or lass."

Justin opened his mouth, then his words caught up with him, and he closed it, forcing his muscles to relax, "Right," he said and sighed, "I'm sorry." He walked over to sit on the bed, "I just had a disturbing dream." He glanced at the doctor for a moment and gave a shy smile, "It threw me right back into teen angst mode again."

"Right," Dr Beckett replied, clearly not buying it.

Justin ran a hand through his hair, "Look, Doctor Beckett, I'm sorry for my attitude. It's just, back when I lived on Earth, especially when I was a teen; I spent a lot of time with people who were older than I was. I was a child prodigy and I looked it. I was small for my age for a long time, and my voice didn't break until I was fifteen. I spent a lot of time proving my intelligence to people who saw me as younger than I really was. Getting off planet when I was eighteen was great. Half my classmates didn't know the difference between male and female, much less the difference in age. I just had this dream, and it wasn't _bad_ exactly, but it was certainly disturbing and it dragged out a lot of memories that I've successfully managed to not think about for the past however long it's been."

Dr. Beckett smiled, "It's all right, lad, I mean, Justin. Dreams can be strange things. Now, how are you feeling?"

Justin shrugged, "Pretty good, considering what happened. I'm more emotionally off balance than anything now."

"Was it the dream?" Dr Beckett asked.

"Not entirely," Justin replied, "the dream was a reflection of bad memories and an overactive imagination. I'll probably have any number of them for a while." He glanced around, "How late is it, anyway?"

"It's almost dawn," Dr Beckett replied, "I was just going over the night shift reports before breakfast."

Justin's stomach growled, loudly, "Yes," Justin said, glancing down at it, "thank you, I know."

Dr Beckett chuckled, "I would invite you to come to the cafeteria."

"But Major Sheppard thinks I'm a security risk," Justin supplied easily, "and wants me somewhere easily contained."

"I wouldn't have put it that way," Dr Beckett said.

"But it's true," Justin replied. "I'm actually not surprised. It was like that on Regula too. They had a thing about Humans, which wasn't fair, but since I never actually left the Labs, it didn't really bother me. Anything I needed I just ordered off the holonet or bribed Kispke to get for me. I've got my bag, and a book I haven't read yet so I'll be fine until someone figures out what to do with me."

Dr Beckett nodded, "I'll send Nurse Brown around with a tray soon."

"Thank you," Justin replied. After the doctor had left, Justin turned back to T.K., "I'm sorry I got you in trouble."

T.K. smiled, "Don't worry about it. I've got major brownie points with the doc. He was more worried about you than made at me anyways."

"How'd you get brownie points?" Justin asked, "I have a feeling I'm going to need them."

T.K. chuckled, "The doc met my brother. The fact that _I_ am not a complete asshole gets me off the hook somewhat."

"Is he really that bad?" Justin asked.

"Worse," T.K. replied, "because he's not as smart as he thinks he is and he is very interested in covering his own ass instead of helping people. Major Sheppard even gave me permission to change the tag on my uniform so people won't realize we're related."

"Wow," Justin said, "so who is he, so I know who to avoid."

"Doctor Kavanaugh," T.K. said, "and don't tell him I told you to avoid him. He hates the fact that I'm the reason he was brought into the project."

"Why is that?" Justin asked.

"Well, some people have a gene," T.K. said, "that lets them use ancient technology, like parts of Atlantis. I have the gene, and it's pretty strong. I'm not at the same level as Doctor Beckett and nowhere near Major Sheppard, but I can make stuff happen. They hoped my brother would have it, since he is a scientist, but after they brought him in, they realized that he _didn't_ have the gene and they couldn't kick him out by then, he already knew too much."

"Sucks to be him," Justin said. He slid off the bed, and then sat back down so that he was able to lean against the pillow, "You think I have that gene? I mean, there have to be some parallels between the universes."

"Doctor Beckett can test you for it," T.K. said, "he's the one who isolated the gene in the first place."

"I'll ask him," Justin said, "when he's not mad at me."

"I don't think he's mad at you," T.K. said.

"He's mad," Justin said, "I know that. I'm not the best at reading people, but I'm good enough to tell when I've managed to really offend someone." He settled back in the pillows, "I wish I could go back to sleep."

"Why don't you," T.K. asked, "I'm not going to be offended."

"Because as soon as I try, I _am_ going to have a nightmare," Justin replied, "I wasn't joking about bad memories. There are some things you can't forget, and some things you never should."


	5. Stories and Lies

Disclaimer: I own neither Stargate Atlantis or Power Rangers.

A/N: I actually have nothing to say except thanks to the reviewer who gave me this idea.

* * *

Of all the meetings John had been dragged to since becoming the CO of Atlantis, this one promised to be the most interesting. It was a meeting about the young man whose arrival had so disrupted their plans the day before, and whose presence was clearly going to disrupt things for a long time to come. "All right," Dr. Weir said, "tell me about our visitor."

"His name is Justin Stewart," Carson said promptly, "and he has a very interesting story."

"He's not telling us everything," John said quietly, "but he's telling us the truth as he sees it."

"What's the story," Dr. Weir said.

"Justin says that he's from Earth," John said, "but that he also lived on another planet for a while."

"He dropped out of college to get trained on another planet," McKay said, "he said he wanted practical training and not theoretical training, which I don't understand because if he was as smart as he claims he'd already know about Area 51 and the work that is being done there. I think he's missing a few screws."

"If he's from another dimension," John said, "perhaps things are different there."

"We've had people go to alternate dimensions," McKay replied, "and some things changed, and some things stayed the same. The Stargate was one of those 'always the same' items."

Dr. Weir tapped the table, "How smart does he claim to be?"

"Child prodigy," Carson said, "he was real defensive when I called him a lad earlier this morning, but he backed down and apologized almost immediately."

"He said he graduated high school at fifteen," McKay added, "and went to MIT long enough to get a pair of bachelor degrees."

Dr. Weir nodded, "Major Sheppard, what is your opinion of Justin Stewart?"

John took a deep breath and thought about the kid for a moment, "He's young, twenty one, but he's mature. He's been through some difficult experiences which have caused him to grow up fast. He handled the alternate dimension revelation without blinking, almost as if he expected to hear it, and he's fascinated about Atlantis, but he isn't scared. I told him about the Wraith and he looked sad. He didn't really say anything about it because he fell asleep, but there was something about the way he looked at that moment, he was afraid, but he was also sad. Something happened to that kid, and it's probably shaped a good portion of his life. Also, he mentioned his dad dying, but he never said anything about his mom."

"Ok," Dr. Weir turned to McKay, "Doctor McKay, what is your opinion?"

Rodney frowned, "He's a liar," he said finally, "I agree with Sheppard on that. He's holding back something. I'm not convinced he's as smart as he claims to be. He's arrogant. I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of those people who can't stop lying."

"All right," Dr. Weir said, "Doctor Beckett."

"He's a good lad," Carson said promptly, "he's defensive about being seen as a child, but he's got a good heart. I agree with John, that he's had some sort of a traumatic experience. Sergeant TK told me he had a vicious nightmare this morning, although Justin only said that it was 'disturbing'. As for physically, I've seen Marines in better shape, but I've also seen Marines in worse shape than he is, but all in all, he's a healthy, physically active man. He's got some interesting scars and he's broken his left arm twice and his leg once. I checked his DNA, he's human, but he doesn't have the gene. There are two anomalies I've spotted, however."

"Yes," Dr. Weir prompted.

"The first is his healing, he had first, second and third degree burns over a fair portion of his body yesterday. This morning, you wouldn't know he'd ever been injured. There aren't more than a few scars on his back where the worst of the burns were." Carson took a deep breath, "And something strange happened yesterday. When we undressed him to check him over for injuries, his heart rate began to drop. It happened slowly, so that we didn't notice it at first, but there was a noticeable difference between when we put him on the EKG and an hour later. When we dressed him, all of his vitals began to rise again, but they didn't reach his previous levels. When Doctor McKay brought him his bag back, Justin took a small, blue leather band out of the bag and put that on. His vitals immediately changed. His heart beat a little faster than the base line and his breathing deepened. His blood pressure is elevated, but not so much as I would normally comment on it to a patient."

"This healing," Dr. Weir said, "did you mention it to him?"

"Aye," Carson replied, "he was confused, maybe a little upset. He claimed it wasn't possible, but it was almost as if he was convincing himself, not me."

Dr. Weir nodded, "Is there anyone else who has talked to Justin Stewart?"

"One of my sergeants, I believe," John said, "Taylor Kavanaugh, or TK."

"I want a copy of his report on our guest," Dr. Weir replied. "For now, if he's cleared to leave the infirmary, we will treat him as a guest. He will be escorted by a marine unless he is with one of us or in his quarters. I want to meet with him personally as well. He can't come to the 'Gate Room unless he's with one of us, and I would prefer it if he was kept away from the armaments as well. Dr. McKay, I want you to evaluate him, see how intelligent he actually is and what he knows. If he can be at all useful, then let him do something, but he _must_ be supervised."

"Elizabeth," Rodney began.

"Rodney," Dr. Weir said, "I trust you with this, if you feel you must, have someone else evaluate him."

McKay nodded, "Yes Elizabeth."

"Thank you," Dr. Weir with a smile as she stood up, "I expect to see our guest this afternoon in my office; until then, gentlemen."

John shook his head slightly, "I now understand why they picked her to lead the expedition," he said.

"Indeed," McKay said as he gave him a wry look.

"Well, I guess we should tell the lad he's free to go," Carson said, standing. John and McKay stood as well and followed the doctor from the conference room.

Justin was sitting on his bed, talking with TK when they got there; he was dressed in a pair of loose navy blue pants and a light blue, long sleeve top. "Justin," Carson said.

"Hey Doctor Beckett," Justin replied with a smile, "I got dressed, I hope that's ok. The hospital gown was a little revealing and a lot uncomfortable."

"Its fine," Carson replied, "you remember Major Sheppard and Doctor McKay correct."

Justin's smiled tightened, just a little, "Yes, I remember them. How are you two?"

"Fine," McKay said, waving his hand. "We're fine, just fine."

"In fact," John said, "we just finished a meeting about you with the head of the expedition. Doctor Weir says you don't have to stay in the infirmary anymore."

"Yes!" Justin exclaimed, jumping off the bed. He sat down quickly, "I'm sorry."

"Yes, well," John said, "there were a few conditions."

"Let's hear them," Justin replied.

"Unless you're with Doctor Beckett, Doctor McKay, Doctor Weir or I, you will have a marine escort."

"Handy if I get lost," Justin quipped.

"There are certain parts of Atlantis you won't be allowed to go, specifically the 'Gate Room and the armory," John continued, "Unless one of the four, Carson, McKay, Weir or I, bring you there."

"No guns," Justin nodded, "what about sparring or kata?"

"We'll see," John said, "we haven't designated a workout room yet. You are to meet with Doctor Weir after lunch, but until lunch, she has asked that your knowledge be evaluated."

Justin sighed dramatically as he slid off the bed, "And again I am left to prove myself," he muttered, "every other species in the galaxy accepts me and my intelligence, but can Earthians? No, because they come from a planet so far behind in technology it's laughable."

John cleared his throat, discreetly elbowed McKay and said, "I'll leave you in McKay's capable hands, then. If there's any trouble, call me."

T.K. saluted, McKay glared at him and Justin, oddly, pressed his right hand, fisted, to his heart and dropped it.


	6. Names and Tests

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers or Stargate Atlantis

A/N: Do you know how hard it was to write this chapter? I just couldn't figure out how to make Justin prove himself. I think this just might be a cop-out. Yes, Jenna is Scottish and yes, she's an original character. Hope you like her...

* * *

Justin found himself following a silently angry Rodney McKay through Atlantis at a pace too fast and a path too unpredictable to take in the beauty of city. It was, he told himself, punishment for his comments about Earth. Finally, Dr. McKay stopped and turned, "We are about to enter my lab," he said, "do not touch anything. Carson says you don't have the gene, so none of it will work anyways. I'm going to have one of the min- I mean, other scientists see about figuring out just how smart you actually are."

Justin nodded, "You got it, Doc." He gave McKay a lazy grin, "Fair warning, though. I don't like Earth for a lot of highly personalized reasons. Calling Earth on its technological shortcomings is better than any of the other cultural, socio-economic or habitual faults I can drag up. You might want to get used to it."

McKay opened his mouth, then snapped it shut and stormed through a door, "Mateyo, Jessica," he pointed at a younger woman with long, dark hair, "Stop whatever it is you're doing. I'm sure you're doing it wrong anyway." He pointed at Justin, "This is your new project, find out how smart he is. I don't care how you do it as long as nothing's permanent and you don't bother me."

"Aye, Doctor McCoy," the woman said in a soft, but snippy Scottish accent, closing down her workstation.

"It's McKay," McKay snapped.

"And it's _Doctor Jenna MacTayo,"_ The woman replied as she slung a bag over her shoulder. "Get my name right and I'll get yours right." She smiled politely at Justin as she approached, "Good morning, I'm Doctor Jenna MacTayo."

Justin took her hand and shook it firmly, "Justin Stewart," he replied, giving her a warm smile. "I'm the guy who fell through the portal yesterday."

"I'd figured as much," Dr MacTayo said, dryly, reclaiming her hand.

"Go on," McKay said, "out of my lab! Flirt somewhere else."

Justin eyed McKay for a long moment, until the scientist fidgeted, then he smiled blandly and said in clear Eltarean, "If I was flirting, you'd know about it." Then he cocked his head to Dr. MacTayo, "Whenever you're ready, Doctor."

They headed out of the lab and were around the corner before Dr. McKay's shouts became audible. "What did you say to him?" Dr. MacTayo asked.

Justin chuckled, "I said, 'If I was flirting, you'd know about it'."

"What language was that, I didn't recognize it," TK asked from behind him.

"Eltarean," Justin replied, to Dr. MacTayo, he explained, "That's the planet I called home. I'm originally from Earth, but I had some connections to get me _off_ there as soon as I could."

"Why?" Dr. MacTayo asked.

Justin shrugged, "I saw Paris."

"I don't understand," Dr. MacTayo said after a moment.

"I don't know the original source, but it was a quote from during the World Wars; 'How are you going to get them back on the farm, once they've see Paris?'" T.K. offered.

"Exactly," Justin said, "I saw technology so far advanced that Earth couldn't even come close to developing it in my lifetime when I was twelve. I got to study it, work on it and use it. Then I got stuck on Earth for six years. _Six years._ The greatest technology I got my hands on was a cell phone. A," he thought of Storm Blaster, and Zhane and swallowed, "a couple of my friends used to sneak me off planet when they could, but it was like a drop of water to a parched throat. I would have gone more but my dad," he smiled to himself as he thought of his dad.

"How did you wind up on Eltare then?" Dr. MacTayo asked.

"My friend Zhane got me into a school on Eltare when I was eighteen," Justin replied. "I've studied there ever since."

"How'd your dad take it?" Dr. MacTayo asked.

"He's dead," Justin replied shortly, "when I was seventeen."

"I'm sorry," Dr. MacTayo said.

"Don't be," Justin said, "It's been a while, and he encouraged me to go." He glanced around, "So, where are we going anyways, doctor?"

"Just around this corner," Dr. MacTayo replied, "and call me Jenna, I only emphasize doctor around Doctor McKay because he never uses it."

"Jenna," Justin repeated, "What's his deal anyways?"

"If I knew that, I'm sure that I would," she paused, then shook her head, "No, I still wouldn't like him."

Justin laughed as they entered the room Dr. MacTayo indicated. "So," Justin said, glancing around, "what's the plan?"

"Well that depends," Dr. MacTayo said, "ever considered joining MENSA?"

"Nah," Justin said, studying one of the three computer terminals idly. It was a Dell, with a Windows XP logo. One of the others was an Apple, _All hail Steve Jobs,_ he thought as he expanded his thoughts to Dr. MacTayo. "I've never been a fan of the brain trust." He glanced over at Dr. MacTayo and swallowed, "I mean, I know a couple of Rangers and Ranger Tech who did, but it wasn't my beer."

"Well, today, you are going to take the MENSA test," Dr. MacTayo replied with a smile, she'd caught his attitude and correction, it seemed to amuse her. "How you score on _that_ should be enough to impress even Rodney McKay."

"Right," Justin said, rolling his eyes. There was a paper in this somewhere, about how Earthians had this need to have everything proven to them. Eltareans were so much easier to get along with, all he had to do was tell them he'd been a Blue Ranger and people respected his intelligence. He rubbed the blue band on his wrist as he watched Dr. MacTayo.

Dr. MacTayo was booting up one of the computers, the Apple, he noted with amusement, and typing rapidly on it. T.K. was standing by the door, at an angle where he could see outside and still keep an eye on Justin as well. When the marine caught him looking, he shrugged. "All right," Dr. MacTayo said, "here you go, test and pencil."

Justin took the offered items, claimed a chair and settled down. As he filled out the personal information on the front page, he couldn't help but think about his early days as Blue Turbo, and the placement test he'd taken back then. _I always seem to take tests to mark the big changes,_ he mused, _I wonder if that's a Blue Ranger thing or just a me being weird thing._


	7. Meeting Elizabeth

Disclaimer: I do not own SGA or Turbo

A/N: I didn't feel a need to rehash everything about Justin's past. I based the facts on his intellegence off Reid from Criminal Minds. Short version, he's about as smart as Einstien.

* * *

Elizabeth Weir had made it a point to make no assumptions about Justin Stewart, from all accounts, he was a brilliant young man but a dangerous one. Rodney had been in a bit of a snit when he'd reported to her, apparently he'd assigned one of the other doctors to test Justin. Dr. MacTayo had used a Mensa entry test to gauge Justin's intelligence, and the young man had had a nearly perfect score.

Now, she was going to meet their visitor herself.

He arrived escorted by Major Sheppard, who gestured Stewart in the room first. Elizabeth took a breath and studied their visitor for a moment. Tall, he was several inches taller than Sheppard, and well built. From what she could tell, he didn't look like he'd spent a great deal of time lifting weights either. He was dressed in a long sleeve, sky-blue tunic with an almost Asian style collar that fell to his thighs, and a navy blue pair of pants that were loose. Matching blue bands encircled both wrists and the hem of the tunic. His shoes were odd, almost lumpy looking black boots. Elizabeth looked up at Stewart's face, he had dark brown hair that was defying gravity by various degrees and brown eyes that watched her impassively.

"Doctor Weir," Major Sheppard said, "this is Justin Stewart. Justin, may I introduce you to Doctor Elizabeth Weir, head of the Atlantis Expedition."

Elizabeth inclined her head, "It's nice to meet you, Justin Stewart," she said.

Justin pressed his right fist to his heart and bowed slightly, "Doctor Weir," he said, "it's nice to meet you as well."

"Please, have a seat," Elizabeth offered, gesturing across her desk. "How are you feeling?"

Justin smiled as he sat down, "I'm fine, Doctor."

"Doctor Beckett said that your wounds were healed already," Elizabeth said.

Justin's smile tightened, almost a grimace, "I've always been a fast healer."

"Indeed," Elizabeth said, she hadn't been in a room this tense since the Balkans. "Doctor McKay was telling me you scored exceptionally well on the Mensa test."

Justin started to roll his eyes, but stopped, "I'm not surprised. When I was on Earth, someone was always giving me an intelligence test of some sort. After a while it just becomes routine."

"Would one of those tests have been an IQ test?" Elizabeth asked, curious.

"Yes," Justin said, "took four or five of those, I think. Usually tested between 169 and 175 depending on the method. I can also read 17,000 words per minute and I have a nearly perfect memory."

Elizabeth glanced down, "I'm sorry," she said, "I just don't usually see Rodney this upset over someone."

"Doctor McKay is afraid that I'm going to walk into his lab and render all of his research invalid," Justin said dryly. "He is ignoring three key facts in that assumption." He leaned back and laced his fingers together over his stomach, "The first being that I don't read Ancient. The second being that I have no other knowledge of the Ancients. The third is that I'm not a researcher and I don't want to be."

"You don't," Elizabeth repeated.

"To break it down to the component parts," Justin replied, "I'm an inventor and something of a mechanic. I'm a lot like another," Justin hesitated, "he's something of a mentor. We like to change things. Sometimes we get a flying car, and sometimes we get a big scorch mark and a cloud of smoke."

"A flying car," Major Sheppard said, then fell silent.

"My mentor, Billy, had one," Justin said idly, "it was an old VW Bug they called the RadBug. Last I heard, he'd gotten it shipped to him from Earth so that he could upgrade it with Aquitian technology."

"That is something else I must admit I'm curious about," Elizabeth said, "you said you live on another planet?"

"Of course," Justin said, "Earth may have been where I was born, but I wouldn't live there again for love or money. I honestly don't even consider myself as an Earthian anymore. I've lived on Eltare for years, and I have strong blood ties to KO-35; even my mentors are considered citizens of other planets."

"I see," Elizabeth replied, even though she wasn't sure she did. "Where were you born on Earth?"

"In California," Justin replied, "so technically, I'm American. I haven't made _that_ claim in," he paused, thinking, "In almost ten years. After the Rangers, it just seemed really pointless to continue to claim nationality when all anyone's ever worried about is what planet you're from."

Elizabeth nodded slightly, studying the young man before her as she continued to ask him questions. He seemed to be trying to remain friendly, if not polite, but some of her questions had pushed him a little more than he'd wanted. She glanced at Major Sheppard for a brief moment as she sat back, "I'm sure I'll have more questions to ask later," she said, "but you've given me something to think about for now." She shuffled her papers, "I would prefer for you to keep your military escort for now, both to keep you from becoming lost and for security reasons. I will recommend to Doctor McKay that he show you some of the lab projects as well. McKay has already volunteered to study the information we collected on the portal you arrived by to see if we can send you back as soon as possible."

Justin nodded, "Thank you, Doctor Weir. I can't pretend to believe that it will be as easy as all that to get me back, but I appreciate that you're going to try."

"You don't think you'll be able to go home?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.

"Not really," Justin said. "I'm not overtly psychic, but I've got a good gut instinct and intuition and I think that I'm going to be here for a while, maybe even forever." He glanced down at his wrist, and the barely visible blue band he wore under his shirt. "It kind of feels like there something I know, or can do, that is needed here but I don't know what yet. I'm almost tempted to try meditation to see if I can figure it out and I don't meditate."

"Well," Elizabeth said, standing up, "until we know otherwise, I'll just say, welcome to Atlantis, and the Pegasus Galaxy."

"Thank you," Justin said, also standing. "I'm glad to be here."

Major Sheppard snorted.

Justin glanced at him, "What?" He asked, and spread his hands out a bit as he tilted his head, "I feel like this is an adventure, and I haven't had a real adventure in almost a year."

Whatever else Justin Stewart was or could do, Elizabeth was sure that things were certainly going to be more interesting.


	8. Adaptations and Devices

Disclaimer: Nope, no ownership of Stargate Atlantis or Power Rangers

A/N: Um, this chapter is ninety-two percent filler. Next chapter will have something more to it.

* * *

Justin sighed as he stood in the middle of the unfurnished room T.K. had helped him find. The Atlanteans may not have a dedicated gym, but that didn't mean he couldn't take over a room for his own use. He put his audio device on the window sill and turned it on, unable to fight the feeling of irony that he owned one of the most sophisticated audio devices on Eltare, and he used it to play Earthian music. He stood for a moment, head bowed, eyes closed, letting the harsh beat roll over him, just breathing. Then he took a step back and spun, launching himself into the first of his warm up routines.

It had been a long time since he'd used pure karate, Justin mused as he worked. Zhane had been his first teacher, showing him the forms and patterns of the Liana. Then he'd studied Aquitian and Javoran, and finally he'd studied the Eltarean styles. Each style had been adopted, adapted and blended, leaving him with a unique fighting style. His final step had been a serious of lessons with the Eltarean black ranger, who had helped him, both to set the patterns to music, and to add some moves that were pure dance.

Just as the music switched from the pounding and rhythmic workout tracks to one of his favorite country tunes, the door to the room slid open and John Sheppard stepped in. "Major," Justin said as he moved into one of his cool down stretches.

"Justin," John replied, "what are you doing?"

Justin eyed the man, "Just a quick workout, sir." He paused for a tricky stretch, "I'm about done, actually. I was feeling lazy, I haven't done any of my usual workouts in a week, and I haven't sparred in two. T.K. helped me find an unfurnished room that was big enough to move around in yesterday."

John leaned against the door, "You and T.K. seem to be getting along well."

Justin shrugged as he bent over, "He's a familiar face, in as much as being in an alternate dimension where nothing is as it was can have familiar faces." He considered the way his thighs felt and decided he could probably do it without hurting himself.

"Not to mention Doctor MacTayo," John continued.

"Pretty girl," Justin said as he settled on the floor and spread his legs slowly, "fascinating accent. Of course, I'm not looking for anything but friendship, I've got someone waiting for me who is more than enough."

"I thought you said you weren't anticipating going back," John asked.

Justin lifted his torso slightly to help form a perfect split, "Maybe I won't," he gasped out, and mentally began to count. "But that doesn't mean I should try to bed jump the first chance I get. Keya isn't possessive, but I don't want to ruin a good thing."

"Keya," John replied carefully, "your girlfriend?"

Justin flicked a glance up and smirked, because John was not watching him. He relaxed, letting his body settle even as he drew his legs together. "In so far as Ylsiadians have a gender," Justin said and began to stand back up, "it would be far safer to say," He straightened up and dusted his hands off, "that Keya is my boyfriend." Another, fuller smirk preceded his strut to collect his towel. "Ylsiadians don't have gender-identity to any significant degree. Although they do have distinctive procreation organs, they do not identify or typify their genders."

"You're dating an alien," John asked softly, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was saying.

"Well, that would be one word for it," Justin said, "I would almost say we're friends with benefits." Throwing his towel around his neck, Justin turned off the audio device and put it back in his bag. "Were you coming here for a reason?"

"Huh," John said, "oh, uh, yes, I did. McKay said that Doctor MacTayo was asking if you could help with exploring the city?"

"She asked, great," Justin grinned, "I actually do want to help with the exploration, but since I figured you wouldn't let me go through the Stargate, I want to volunteer to help with mapping the city itself. T.K., Jenna and I have been talking about it, actually. Jenna and I don't have the gene, but T.K. does, and T.K.'s such a _Red_ that it would actually be safer."

"What do you mean by T.K.'s a Red?" John asked.

"Red Ranger," Justin replied, "he's a leader. He's got some of the best instincts and a good helping of common sense. Of all the Reds I count as friends, he's like TJ and Rocky, enough blue to be logical, but he's a Red at heart." As he walked back across the room, Justin studied John for a moment as he slowed down with plenty of space between them, "I'd say you were a Red too, but you're more like Andros, or even Tommy."

"Why's that?" John asked, giving him a weird look.

"Well, I knew Tommy first, but I've spent more time around Andros, and there are two versions of their battle strategy, 'hit it and see what happens' or 'shoot it and see what happens'. Then there's the tactics, 'first we show up, then we see what happens', also handily rephrased as 'we'll get a bunch of Rangers together and hopefully something will happen.'" Justin shrugged, "I don't know why, but that's what I think of around you."

John laughed, which made Justin feel a little better, "I wouldn't say I'm that bad," John finally said, "and did you think I was going to hit you for that?"

Justin shrugged, "The closest I've come to spending time with the military is the Rangers, sir. I wouldn't put it past some of them to lash out." He rubbed his shoulder, "Although, the girls do tend to hit harder."

"No comment," John said, "but if T.K.'s a Red, what about you, or Jenna?"

"I'm Blue," Justin said, "hands down, no other color necessary. Jenna, I'm not sure about; sometimes, I think she could be a Pink, but I don't think she's a Yellow. Maybe a White or a Blue."

"And what do those colors mean," John asked.

"Blue is for intelligence, sort of, it's the belief that _'The ability to use one's body is second only to the ability to use one's mind.'_" Justin grinned, "A lot of blues are geniuses like Billy and I, or at least, they're very good at using logic over emotion. All Ranger teams have a Red, a Blue and a Yellow. Yellows are healers, body, mind or soul and can be classified as Emotion _with_ Logic. Pinks are the heart of the team and are good at compassion and forgiveness. They're Emotion _over_ Logic. Whites are the counterpoint to yellow, being Logic _with_ Emotion. Tommy says being a White is about taking care of the team as a family. With the exception of Tommy, Whites aren't leaders, but they have a unique view to the team. There's also Black, they're artists, Greens, who are strong fighters and pranksters, and then the three that are very rare; Golds, who are Guardians, Silvers, who are The Light and Purples, who are the Mystics."

"Ten colors," John said, "seems like a big team."

"Not really," Justin replied, "traditionally, a team is between five and six Rangers. The smallest teams that are formed deliberately are always a Triad and always Red, Blue and Yellow. Occasionally you get two Rangers together, like Andros and Zhane, or a solitary Ranger, but that only happens when the other Rangers are," Justin hesitated, "lost." He closed his eyes against the onrushing of memories, of teammates who were too old, who had lost one of their own and weren't ready to reform and of teammates who weren't ready for a young Senior, too lost and afraid to see the possibilities and too willing to let him go when he asked. _"Hela'denar'i,"_ he whispered, the label he accepted and hated in equal measure, _Broken Team._

"What does that mean?" John asked, cutting through the memories.

"What?" Justin asked, opening his eyes.

"What you whispered, that word, what does it mean?" John repeated.

"It means Broken Team," Justin said, "look, about the exploring thing, can we do that? Because I'm not much help in the labs right now, and I think Jenna's going to go primal on Doctor McKay if she has to continue to spend time in his presence; not to mention that T.K. and Doctor Kavanaugh are an exchange away from one of them committing fratricide." He held his hand up, "If this is about you not wanting me to carry a P-90 or a 9 mil, that's cool. I don't like guns in the first place. I do have the designs for a nifty little stun gun from my weapons development class that would be more to my taste."

"A stun gun," John repeated.

"Yeah," Justin said, he pulled out his tablet, "see, this design here is based off modifying a traditional Taser, and I've got some others that need to be built from scratch."

"Show me more," John replied, coming to look at the schematics Justin was pulling up.


	9. Boom and Smoke

Disclaimer: I own neither Power Rangers or Stargate Atlantis

A/N: In the Stargate movie, Ferretti was listed as a Tech Sergeant. I have chosen to believe that in the ensuing years, he's gone officer. Other than that, I think everything is fairly self explainitory. Although you may have noticed, I don't write accents, because it annoys me when I have to _read_ accents. You already know Jenna's Scottish and TK's American, so you know their accents. And a paraphrase from National Treasure.

* * *

John found Ferretti at the shooting range, "Captain," he called when Ferretti pulled off his ear protectors.

"Major Sheppard," Ferretti replied and saluted.

John returned the salute, "At ease, Captain," he said.

"Yes sir," Ferretti said.

John regarded the other man for a long moment, "Lieutenant Ford tells me you were on the first Abydos mission," he said finally.

"Yes sir," Ferretti replied.

"Now, I don't know much about the SGC," John said, "but it seems to me that that would make you some sort of hero."

"That's what they say," Ferretti said, not quite meeting John's eyes.

John smiled, "Don't worry," he said, "I'm not going to pry into the reasons why you're here. I was wondering if you wanted a 'Gate team?"

"A 'Gate team," Ferretti repeated, meeting his eyes in surprise.

"Yes," John said, "I want someone with experience for this particular team, and you are, arguably, the most experience marine here."

"What team," Ferretti finally asked.

"Well, we haven't formalized the naming system," John replied, "but I'd like you to consider Lieutenant Tyler Kavanaugh and Doctor Jenna MacTayo."

"Kavanaugh," Ferretti repeated.

"The lieutenant is the nice brother," John said with a brief chuckle, "he prefers to be called T.K. either way." He tilted his head slightly, "Right now, T.K. and MacTayo are working with Justin Stewart, and they've asked to do some exploration in the city. I'd like you to take point for them, see if you can work with T.K. and MacTayo in non-hostile situations. If it seems like it'll work out, Teyla and I will see about assigning you an Athosian guide for off-planet missions." Now he leaned his head forward, and deliberately met Ferretti's eyes, "Justin Stewart is not a part of your team, nor is he currently considered for any off world action. That being said, you are not his baby sitter, nor do I expect you to spy on him. For now, he is a guest and ally, and will be treated as such."

Ferretti glanced down at his gun, unloading it and setting the safety before holstering it. His eyes were dark and thoughtful as he put his ear protectors on the table. Finally, he turned to look straight at John, "Major Sheppard, sir," he said and saluted, "I would be honored to be a part of that team."

"Thank you," John replied, returning the salute. "T.K. and MacTayo are in an auxiliary lab with Justin right now," he added, "if you're ready to meet them."

"I'm ready," Ferretti replied.

They headed to the science labs, arriving at the lab that Justin and MacTayo had taken over the day after the latter's arrival just in time to see the aftermath of something involving a great deal of smoke. "What the hell?" John demanded around a cough, wishing that there were a way to circulate air in the windowless lab.

A click, followed by a soft whirring sound heralded the clearing of the smoke. For a moment, John thought the lab was empty, then Justin popped up from behind one of the lab benches with a grin. "That was awesome!" He crowed, "Did you see that?"

MacTayo came up from under a different bench, somehow looking put together and calm even covered in soot, "You're daft," she announced, "I told you to watch your energy modulator."

Justin waved his hand, "That didn't blow," he said, "although it's probably ruined now." He half bent over and pulled T.K. up, "You ok?"

"Fine," T.K. replied with a grin, "you were right though, it was pretty." He spotted John and Ferretti and his smile vanished, "Major Sheppard, Captain Ferretti!" He saluted.

Justin turned, his grin morphing into a smirk as he leaned against his bench. "Is everything ok?" John asked dryly.

Justin shrugged, "It could be better," he admitted, "but Thomas Edison found two thousand ways not to make a light bulb, so I'm certain we'll succeed eventually."

"Lieutenant Kavanaugh," John said, deciding that he really didn't want to know what Justin was up to, "Doctor MacTayo, may I have a word?"

"Yes sir," T.K. said.

"Aye," MacTayo agreed.

"I'll see what can be salvaged," Justin announced, as he headed towards the back of the lab.

John stepped into the hallway and watched impassively as T.K. and MacTayo joined him and Ferretti. "And that was?" He asked after a moment.

"Phaser testing," MacTayo said promptly, "We finished the modifications for Justin's stun gun, and he wanted to run some tests on a more advanced model."

John nodded slightly, "Lieutenant, Doctor, this is Captain Ferretti." He nodded at the Captain, who waved a hand in a casual salute. "Lieutenant, you applied for a gate team position shortly after our arrival here. Doctor, I was told by Doctor McKay you also wanted to join a gate team."

MacTayo shrugged, "I think my exact words were something along the lines of, 'I want to join a gate team because at least then I won't have to be on the same planet as you.'"

John smiled at her, "I'm sure you aren't the only one with that feeling." He sighed, "I want the three of you to be a Gate team. McKay told me, and Justin confirmed, that you want to join in the exploration of Atlantis. I'm inclined to grant that request. You three, and Stewart, will report to Sergeant Bates in the morning for an assignment. At the end of the week, if you three feel the team will work, you will be paired with one of our Athosian allies and become an official gate team. As I told Captain Ferretti already, while I agree that Stewart can help with city exploration, I am not clearing him to join a Gate team."

T.K. saluted, "Yes sir, Major Sheppard, thank you sir."

MacTayo rolled her eyes, "Thank you, Major Sheppard." She turned to Ferretti, "I'm Jenna MacTayo, but I prefer to be called Jenna. I only emphasize doctor around Doctor McKay because he's an annoying ass who needs to take a long walk off a short pier."

"Louis Ferretti," Ferretti replied and shook her hand, "I think it's going to be mighty interesting working with you ma'am."

"Indeed," MacTayo agreed.

"Lieutenant," Ferretti added, extending his hand to the younger man.

"Captain," T.K. replied, started to salute, but aborted it to shake their team leader's hand.

John nodded to himself, "All right," he said, "try not to kill each other, please?" He turned and headed down the hall, heading towards Rodney's lab.


	10. Overwhelming Memories

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers or Stargate Atlantis.

A/N: Do not expect all chapters to be this long. Also, remember the Power works differently, in part because Justin has Eltarean style training, and in part because it's the Pegasus Galaxy, everything is weird. The end part of this chapter is...well, I don't know how to put it in words, but it's that moment when you have to talk, or everything falls apart. I do like Ferretti though.

* * *

Justin sat his tray down and watched T.K. and Jenna as they walked over to join him. He rubbed his wrist idly as they slid their trays onto the table. For a brief moment, Jenna's eyes turned pink, while T.K.'s hair took on a distinctly reddish cast. He pulled his hand away like he'd been burned, then covered the gesture by reaching for his drink. It wasn't the first time he'd seen those auras, had gotten better at hiding his discomfort from his friends when he did see them. That didn't mean he liked them.

"Ready to go exploring?" T.K. asked as he picked up his fork and poked at the eggs.

"I hate to say it," Jenna said, "but I hope it's not that adventurous."

"Yeah," Justin said, "we get enough of an adventure eating breakfast."

T.K. glared at him, "You eat anything, Justin."

Justin shrugged, "I have an intergalactic stomach, I get it from my dad."

"But your dad was an Earthian," Jenna said, "at least, that's what I thought you said."

"He was," Justin replied, "but I have a half-brother who is Kerovan. And Zhane is infamous for eating the inedible."

"How much longer are you planning to be eating," Ferretti asked as he joined them.

"We'll be done before Justin," Jenna began as T.K. saluted.

"Easy, Lieutenant," Ferretti said, saluting back.

"Are you going to eat your oatmeal?" Justin asked, reaching his spoon for T.K.'s bowl.

"Go ahead," T.K. replied as he picked up his toast. "You eat it every time."

Jenna slid her bowl over in front of Justin's tray, "Apparently, Justin has a thing about oatmeal."

"I missed it on Eltare," Justin said, between bites.

Ferretti stared at Justin, "I've never seen anyone enjoy army oatmeal before."

Justin looked up as he reached for T.K.'s bowl. "On Pemlah, the local delicacy is…" he stopped, "I don't want to ruin your appetite." He pushed T.K.'s bowl away, "I just lost mine."

"Are you sure you don't want any oatmeal," Ferretti asked, pushing Jenna's bowl closer.

"No," Justin replied, he pressed a hand to his stomach. He really didn't need to think about stuff like that when he was eating.

"Justin, want some extra oatmeal," John asked, putting his bowl on the table.

Justin bolted, because he really didn't want to look at any more oatmeal. He stumbled down the hallway and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes.

_Flames filled the air, roaring so loud that he couldn't even hear his detector going off. He coughed, took a breath through his nose and almost gagged on the smell of burning flesh. The detector began to vibrate and he held it closer to his face to study it. A gust of air hit part of the fire and it roared. He ran forward, barely missing being cooked. He rounded a wall and found the girl. She was pulling on the arm of someone buried in flaming rubble. Her large brown eyes were closed as she screamed something, probably mother. He hesitated, and the ceiling collapsed._

"Justin," someone snapped, and a stinging paint brought him roaring out of the memory.

He grabbed the person that hit him with a yell and threw him away, his foot helping to give the person height along with the distance.

"Justin!"

He blinked, and saw gray-blue walls, not smoke. He smelled the ocean, not flames, and John Sheppard was picking himself up from the wall across the corridor.

"_Nemeste!"_ He snapped, "Are you all right, Major Sheppard?"

"Yeah," John said, rubbing his neck.

"What happened?" T.K. asked.

"If I didn't know better," John said, "that looked like a flashback?"

Justin frowned, "It was nothing," he shoved off the wall and started down the hall, wanting to just get away.

"Justin," T.K. shouted.

Justin turned, "Sorry," he said, "Red or not, I'm at your beck and call today." He turned and entered the transporter, picked a glowing dot a random and followed his ears to a balcony. He stood there in the wind, letting the sea blow away the memories of smoke and violence.

He closed his eyes, and blue light filled him. He opened his eyes and stumbled back from the balcony, "No!" He shouted, and then took a deep breath. Clenching his hands, he glared at a power he couldn't see with his eyes open. "I'm _retired._ I'm _Hela'denar'i,_" He flung his hands out, "What do you expect of me? Haven't I done enough, haven't I given up enough? _ Haven't I lost enough people?"_

"Justin?"

Justin spun to find Ferretti standing there, "What?" He asked, he brushed a hand over his cheek and stared at it, surprised at the tears.

Ferretti stepped out on the balcony, "The first time I went through a Stargate, we had no clue what would happen." He leaned on the railing, "We didn't even have a clue what waited for us. All I knew was that some crazy Air Force officer and a scientist who couldn't see straight because of his allergies were taking us somewhere we didn't know we'd come back from. Less than half of us came back and we left the scientist behind with his wife. A year later, we went back for Daniel, the scientist, and our third mission was to rescue captives from Daniel's planet, Abydos, including his wife, as well as a Marine. I was unable to go on that mission; I was injured when those glowy-eyed bastards grabbed Shaire and Skara. My best friend went on that mission, and his body came back but his mind didn't."

"What do you mean?" Justin asked.

"They're called the Goa'uld," Ferretti replied, "and they look a lot like snakes. Except they wiggle into your ear and wrap around your brain and take over. The only way you'd know someone was taken would be when their eyes glowed."

"Oh," Justin said softly.

"Kowalski was one of them," Ferretti said. "We were able to stop him from leaving."

Justin bowed his head, eyes closed, and then he turned to look at Ferretti, "Were you together?"

Ferretti looked at him, "Ever heard of Don't Ask, Don't Tell?"

"No," Justin said, "at least, probably not in the way you're saying it."

"In ninety-six, they passed a law regarding gays in the military called 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and it essentially boils down to if you ever get caught in any form of a homosexual relationship and you're in the military." Ferretti hesitated.

"You aren't anymore," Justin supplied.

"Yes," Ferretti agreed.

"I think they tried that," Justin said, he frowned, "Yeah, they did. The Power Rangers teleported onto the middle of the Senate floor and told them that the law was not only a bad law, but it was a pointless one. It was this big television news story for weeks. It was the only time the Rangers got political. At least, until this last Earth team showed up. They were created and funded by the government." He tilted his head, "It was so funny, I got tapes from the Astros, there's this group called Westboro, they showed up and tried to protest a Ranger battle because of the Rangers' opinions on things like homosexuality, and then had to get rescued, by the Rangers. Carter Grayson, their Red, told the Westboro leader afterwards that if they ever protested anything Ranger related he had authority, not just from Earth's Senior Rangers, but from _Eltare_ to arrest them for violating intergalactic law."

"I've heard of Westboro Baptist Church," Ferretti said dryly, "They have this habit of protesting military funerals."

"Damn," Justin muttered, "makes me wish the three laws didn't apply."

"Three laws?" Ferretti asked.

Justin glanced behind them, making sure no one else was out there, and then held out his wrist, "Watch the band," he said brandishing the blue band. He twisted his wrist down, then up, and mentally summoned the Turbo morpher. "Rule One, never reveal your identity. I used to be a Power Ranger, a long time ago. Rule Two, never use your powers for personal gain, and Rule Three, never escalate a battle." He twisted his wrist again, "It's Powered, and I still have the key that activates it."

"But you won't use it?" Ferretti said quietly.

"I was twelve years old, and my mentor was in the hospital with a damaged spine," Justin couldn't look at Ferretti. "I snuck in and found out that my mentor, _my mentor,_ and his friends were the Power Rangers. He caught me sneaking out and decided that I should be the fifth Ranger. They were on their way to free two former Rangers and Rocky couldn't go."

"So he sent a twelve year old child in his place," Ferretti said.

"Zordon agreed and Alpha helped me deal with the Zord," Justin replied. He smiled slightly, "It's a good thing you don't need a license to drive a Zord."

"And a Zord is," Ferretti prompted him.

"Giant robot," Justin said, "ours were cars. They could shift between a standard size and gigantic."

"I still can't believe they thought a twelve year old could fight," Ferretti said.

"The Rangers did at first, but, they didn't really have a choice. Zordon sent me, so I was a Ranger." Justin replied, "Besides the Power protects us. Back then, when I morphed, I went through a sort of forced puberty, it was weird. I don't really remember much of the morphing though. Zordon, he was our mentor, and liaison to other worlds among other things. I know the older ones thought of him as a father-figure. They were my first team and they were graduating high school and looking for their own replacements. After Zordon went back to Eltare, it was easier for them to break the team and hand off the morphers than to accept me. The second group was fifteen and sixteen year olds. They couldn't accept a Senior who was younger, not really. In the end, I gave them an easy out."

"An easy out," Ferretti replied.

"The Power Chamber was blown up by our enemies," Justin said, "while we were inside. We were going into space, for help, for new powers, whatever. I got them into the base, and I could have followed them, it wouldn't have been easy, but I would have. They thought I was staying to be with my dad. That's when they met Andros and he gave them the new morphers."

"Breaking the team again," Ferretti guessed.

"Yeah," Justin said. "Andros was mortified when he found out. It's not done, you don't poach teams, especially cross-planetary teams like the Astros became. He never even asked if they had a fifth, he just handed off the morphers. It's part of the reason I have a weird relationship with the Astros. It's better than it was, I did eventually forgive them." Justin toyed with the blue band that hid his morpher, "But it was their sixth that cemented the deal."

"Yeah?" Ferretti asked.

"Before my parents married, my dad met an alien Ranger, Katanya; she was looking for Zordon, but was being hunted by the Varox, a group of vicious bounty hunters. She crashed into this lake where my dad was fishing, and he helped her get back to Angel Grove. Along the way, they had drunk, angry sex." Justin grinned, "His name is Zhane, and he's the Silver Astro Ranger. He's great, you know. I always wanted a big brother and Zhane was exactly that. He's the one who got me my training on Eltare and looked out for me after Dad died."

Justin sobered and flicked the morpher back into view, "When Divatox destroyed the Power Chamber, the foci for the Turbo Morphers was destroyed as well. We, the Turbos, had these two allies who took the form of sentient cars, Lightning Cruiser and Storm Blaster. Storm Blaster and I have a weird bond; I can understand him even though he doesn't talk. The Astros were in trouble, and Storm Blaster came for me. He gave me a new Turbo Morpher that was fully charged. After Zordon died, I decide that I was retired. No more missions, no more battles, I'm done. I'm tired of being shot at, getting crushed and fighting with broken bones, not to mention getting blown up. I've broken two teams."

"So don't morph," Ferretti said, "Major Sheppard says he doesn't want you off world."

"Major Sheppard won't have a say in the matter," Justin replied. "The Power's _here_, as strong and as ancient as it is back on Eltare. It didn't bring me here, I don't think, but now that it has me, it wasn't something from me. T.K. and Jenna are part of it. I don't know who the others are, but I don't doubt that we'll find them, and a foci. I know how to build morphers and Zords. It was Zordon's final request to me, to learn. For some reason, your people are getting the Power."

"Are you going to fight," Ferretti asked.

"I will if I have to," Justin said, "but not as a Power Ranger. I'm _retired._"


	11. Time Travel?

Disclaimer; I do not own Stargate Atlantis or Power Rangers

* * *

John looked up in surprise as Ferretti stepped into his off, "Can I help you, Captain?"

"Sir," Ferretti said, "I wanted to talk to you about the mission we've got coming up, PB-922."

"What about it?" John asked.

"Permission to speak freely," Ferretti said.

"By all means," John replied.

"I've been told I need to bring another scientist on this one," Ferretti said, "because it's an ancient outpost and everything. I want to bring Justin Stewart. He's an exceptional scientist, a skilled fighter and I've found his experiences give him a unique insight into the ancient mindset." He held up a hand, "I know you said before you weren't considering him for a gate team, but sir, I think Justin's getting bored. He's been blowing up more things in that lab Doctor McKay gave him, and getting in verbal fights with McKay, Kavanaugh, and Bates. Doctor Jenna said something about Teyla insisting Justin consider learning those sticks of hers too."

John leaned back, "I'd heard about those fights," he said, "Rodney was rather vocal about the one he had with Justin. I'm actually starting to agree with you, and unless Elizabeth has an objection, I will sign off on Justin going."

"Thank you," Ferretti said.

"I almost expected you to ask earlier," John admitted.

"I didn't want Justin to feel I was taking advantage of him," Ferretti replied hesitantly.

"What do you mean by that?" John asked, amused by Ferretti's sudden _oh shit_ expression.

"Justin told me some things," Ferretti said carefully, "I don't want to betray his confidence, but, I have the feeling that he's been taken advantage of before."

John smiled a little, "No offense meant," he said in amusement, "but you sound almost paternal."

"Maybe I do," Ferretti said, "but Major Sheppard, sir, I don't think he's had anybody to look out for him. Like I said, he's told me things, and I don't just mean about the aliens. I think he's spent a long time being lonely."

John sighed and shook his head, "I'm not going to stop you, Captain. I'm not here to dictate your personal life." He waved his hand, "I'll talk to Doctor Weir at the meeting this afternoon and I'll let you know what she says."

"Yes sir," Ferretti said with a salute.

John watched the Captain leave and then bowed his head for a moment. Things had been jumping since Justin's arrival, and he had had so little time to spend with the interdimensional visitor. Especially considering that Rodney had been forced to admit his failure at being able to send the younger man home.

John checked the time on his laptop and stood, he needed to start heading towards the meeting. As he stepped out of his office, he spotted Justin and Dr MacTayo walked down the hallway looking at something, "See," Justin said, "I was born in eighty-five."

"Major Sheppard," Dr MacTayo said, looking up, "how are you?"

"I'm good," John said, "I'm sorry, did you just say you were born in eight-five?"

Justin nodded, "Yeah, I did. There was a temporal factor to my little trip, which makes things exceptionally interesting." He tilted his head and grinned slightly, "It surprised me a great deal to learn that this wasn't the year two thousand six."

"No," John replied, "I'm fairly certain it's two thousand four." For a brief moment, John saw Justin's eyes turn blue, but Justin blinked and they were brown again. "Ok," John muttered.

Justin looked at him for a long moment, then looked down at Jenna, "Jenna, would you give me a moment?"

"Sure," Dr MacTayo replied, she nudged his side, "hurry up, though. We have about twenty minutes left."

"Right," Justin said, "I'll be there." He watched Jenna vanish down the corridor and turned, "My eyes turned blue again, didn't they?"

"What?" John asked.

"My eyes, they went blue," Justin said, "I know you saw it."

"Yeah," John said, "what do you mean, again?"

Justin sighed, "It has to do with my brother being a Silver Ranger. The blood between us gives me a weaker aspect of his gifts. I have excellent instincts and intuition because he's a Silver and is, for lack of a better term, psychic. Another thing, partly because of Zhane is that I will eventually have blue hair and blue eyes. You see that because the Power here isn't as tame as it is back home. There are surges and spikes all the time, it's crazy."

"Why wouldn't it be tame?" John asked.

"Because nobody's been taking care of it," Justin replied quietly, "I think the Eltareans were here, because what I can feel of the Grid feels like their handy work, but it's so off kilter that I can't be sure of anything from one moment to the next." He grinned, "I'm working on a report for the science people, but if you want, I can give a verbal report. However, you have a meeting to get to and I am almost out of time myself." He stepped back, "Until next time, Major."

John watched Justin vanish, then shook his head, turning and heading back towards the transporter, he did have a meeting to get to, and he was probably going to be late getting there, again.

Elizabeth looked up as John slipped into the meeting room, "Good of you to join us Major," she said with a slight smile.

"Sorry, I ran into Justin on my way in," John replied as he took a seat beside Rodney. "I also had an interesting request from Ferretti regarding Justin Stewart."

"Well, we'll discuss it after Doctor McKay finishes his report." Elizabeth said with a smile.

John held his hands up, "By all means, Rodney, I'm sorry I interrupted."

"Yes, well," Rodney said, and launched himself into his report.

John leaned back, paying enough attention to note that it was only more of the same. Then, Elizabeth said, "Thank you, Rodney. Major Sheppard, if you would tell us about your request."

"Captain Ferretti feels that Justin Stewart is bored," John said, "which is why he's getting into so much trouble. He wants to take Justin along as his second scientist on the next mission. Personally, I feel that Justin will be a great asset, although I am still not certain he's ready for a regular gate team."

"I agree," Rodney said, "please, send him away for a while. My scientists are all jump waiting for the next explosion."

As if Rodney's words were a charm, a sudden explosion rocked the city. Alarms started and radios came on, "Fire in Justin's lab," someone said, "we may need a medical team."

John didn't even look at Elizabeth for dismissal, instead, he bolted out the door, Elizabeth and Rodney hard on his heels.


	12. New Friends

Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis or Power Rangers

A/N: Poor Justin, he's trying to do this nice thing and it blows up in his face. He does get to make a new friend though. I don't normally write accents, but the thing is Keoni is technically speaking 'pidgin', and I only used a few words of it. Anyone who wants to correct my spelling/word usage, feel free to PM me. I'm doing the best I can.

* * *

Justin looked around at the remains of his lab and groaned, "McKay," he announced, "is going to kill me." He pulled a remote from his pocket and shut off the shield that surrounded him and coughed as a last wisp of smoke tickled his throat. He could hear T.K. and Jenna pounding on the door and he winced, "If they don't kill me first."

He pulled the step ladder from under the only remaining cabinet and kicked through the debris to the vent over the door. He climbed up and popped the screen off, allowing T.K.'s voice to come clear, "Justin! I swear, I'm going to kill you if you're dead."

Justin shook his head and grabbed the bar he'd installed over the door when McKay had formally assigned the lab to him. He pulled himself up and rested his heels on the edge of the vent. "Stand back, guys," he called, "I'm coming out."

He pushed off the edge and swung his legs into the vent. His feet hit the screen on the other side and knocked it free, allowing him to slide all the way through the door and land on the ground on the outside, brushing his hands as he straightened up. Just as he got his balance, he was tackled from behind. "You idiot," Jenna said, and socked him on the shoulder.

"What," Justin said, "I'm fine. I told you I would be."

"Justin, they felt the blast in the gate room," T.K. said.

"Did they?" Justin replied, he couldn't help the grin that lit his face, "Awesome."

"That wouldn't be the word I would use," John Sheppard said as he walked around the corner from the transporter, followed by Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay.

"Why not?" Justin said, "It's not like I got hurt." He slid his hand in his pocket, making sure his Turbo Key was buried deeply. He glanced at the door and winced, "We're going to need a welding kit."

"What were you doing?" Dr Weir asked.

"Controlled explosion," Justin replied, "to test a bio shield."

"A what?" Dr McKay asked.

"It's like that personal shield you had," Justin said, "except it's not based on a person." He crossed his arms, "The Athosians are out there on the Mainland, it takes us ten minutes to get there, and we can't evacuate everyone in one trip even if we took all the puddle jumpers out there. The bio shield, when it works, is meant to protect until rescue can happen."

"_When_ it works," McKay replied.

"The shield has a five foot diameter and a six foot height," Jenna replied, "as far as we've been able to test, it'll hold against everything short of a nuclear bomb. But when we try to make it bigger, it doesn't hold, the bigger it goes, the more unstable it gets." She punched Justin in the shoulder, "What this one isn't saying is that he tricked us out of the lab and sealed the door before standing under the shield while it went off. We haven't had a successful test at the size we were using."

"Unless I'm in it," Justin added, "If I'm under it, the shield will hold at seven and ten. Once we get the door open, you'll see what I mean."

"That explosion was bigger than it should have been," T.K. added.

"He's right," Jenna said startled, "there was no way that should have shaken the entire city."

Justin sighed, "I might have added something to it. What's the point in creating a shield if it won't work in serious conditions."

"Justin," Dr Weir said, "I don't know what you're used to, but I'm starting to get the idea that you might need more supervision than we're currently giving you."

"What, because I didn't get approval before I started this?" Justin interrupted her, he hadn't wanted to play the hero card, but he wasn't about to let them treat him like a child. "Doctor Weir, I don't think you understand. Everyone here focuses on my Earthian age, and twenty-one is, what, young and stupid?" He glanced from Weir to McKay and finally to Sheppard, "I'm twenty-seven years old on Eltare, and that's not just some random number, I lived on Eltare for nine years. I spent five of them fulfilling my mentor's dying request. Then I started my training on the civilian side, to design and build battleships. Even if you want to stick with the Earthian age, you need to take into account that I was fighting for my _planet_ at the age of twelve. I was thirteen when the Power Chamber exploded _while I was inside,_ and only the sacrifice of my Ranger powers kept me alive. Because of my training on Eltare, I'm already skilled in channeling the bio field that we're using to power the shield," Justin said, "that keeps me safe." He looked up as Ferretti joined them, and held up his wrist to reveal the blue band, "Not to mention I've got an extra edge on protection."

"'Ey!" Someone said from behind Sheppard and the doctors, "We heard someone needs a medic, brah?"

"Nah," Justin said, "I'm not even bruised." He craned his head to see the speaker.

"You do need your head examined," T.K. muttered.

Justin glared at T.K. for a brief moment, then pointedly stepped around John, McKay and Weir, "Sorry to have called you down here," he said, studying the man holding the medical kit, "my radio got shorted in the explosion and they thought I was hurt."

"K'Den," the man said with a shrug, "I'm Keoni Ayatt."

"Justin," Justin said offering his hand, "Do I detect a hint of Hawaii in your accent?"

"Ho brah, I'm born and bred," Keoni replied, slapping his hand. "And you?" Keoni replied.

Justin shook his head, "My dad and I lived there for a school year when I was ten. I picked up enough to keep from getting my butt kicked in school. It was one of my favorite places to live."

"Fo shua," Keoni said. "If I'm not needed, I should be getting back."

Justin glanced over his shoulder at the rest of them, "I'll go with you, just to make them happy." He glanced over his shoulder, "I'll come back later and see what I can do about the door."

"Justin, this conversation isn't over," Dr Weir said.

"Considering the fact that I don't actually have to answer to you," Justin said, "I think we are right now. I'm pissed, you're still trying to figure out what just happened. I think we should talk this over when we're both emotionally stable."


	13. Apologies and Epifanies

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and Power Rangers: Turbo Do NOT belong to me.

A/N: And we march on, I promise, the next chapter is Justin on planet. There are so many plans!

* * *

Elizabeth Weir was finishing up the last of her administrative tasks when Justin Stewart arrived. "Doctor Weir," he said respectfully as he hovered just outside her door, "Do you have a moment?"

For a brief moment, Elizabeth eyed the Ancient translations before she sighed, "What can I do for you, Justin Stewart?"

Justin grinned and stepped inside, "I wanted to apologize, Doctor. What I said was out of line, rude and unbecoming of a Ranger. I could make excuses, and believe me, I have a list, but there is no excuse for speaking like that to anyone."

Elizabeth, attention focused on her visitor, gestured, "Have a seat, Justin," she crossed her arms, and rested her weight lightly on them. "I must say, I did not expect that."

Justin settled into one of the chairs across from her and nodded, "I gathered as much. It's just, like I was saying, I've considered myself to be a lot older than my Earthian age and I'm not acting like it. In part, I'm angry at my situation, and, well, Doctor, I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what," Elizabeth said.

"The Wraith," Justin said, "the Power, what being here means. I may have my morpher, but I'm _retired,_ I don't have a team, or Zords, or weapons, I don't know what the Power wants from me."

"Aren't you a little young to be retired?" Elizabeth said, even though she'd heard versions of his history, she wanted to hear what Justin had to say for himself.

Justin actually laughed, "Doctor Weir, in my life I've been too young, too small, too short, and too smart depending on the situation. At least, that's what people keep telling me." He pressed his hand to his chest and assumed an air of superiority, "I am, actually, the best me that has ever been." He nodded once, sharply, then relaxed. "I may be 'too young' to call myself retired, but I was 'too young' to be a Ranger in the first place."

Elizabeth nodded, and decided to change the subject, to hear what else Justin had to say for himself, "I've been getting a lot complaints about you, Justin. Usually for your attitude."

Justin nodded, "I understand ma'am."

Elizabeth watched him for a long moment as Justin fidgeted, "I've talked with Captain Ferretti and Major Sheppard," she said finally. "You will be trained in the P-90. Captain Ferretti has asked that you be assigned as a second scientist for his next mission and I have agreed to allow it."

Justin's eyebrows rose, and he frowned, "Doctor Weir, while I appreciate Louis's offer, I'm afraid that if learning to use the P-90 is a strong prerequisite, I'm going to have to turn you down."

"Why?" Elizabeth asked.

"I am a conscientious objector to those types of weapons," Justin replied. "They're dangerous and more likely to accidentally kill someone than an energy weapon." He reached into his back and pulled out what appeared to be a sheet of glass. At his touch, it lit up and he dragged his fingers over it for a few moments before setting it on her desk. "I took weapon design classes last year on Eltare, they require the small arms class along with the artillery. This is one of the weapons I designed and developed. I have the prototype in my quarters here, I've been refining it. If the Major and the Captain agree, I'd prefer to carry that. It has a bio-inhibitor that can be adjusted so that only myself, the Captain's team and Major Sheppard can fire the weapon at all."

"Show it to Major Sheppard," Elizabeth said, "and let him decide."

Justin grinned brightly, "Thank you, Doctor Weir."

"Justin," Elizabeth said, "I understand that you are trying to do a good thing with your bio-shield, and I'm not going to make you stop. However, Lieutenant Kavanaugh is checked out on the jumpers. Next time you wish to test the shield with explosions, please go over to the Mainland, away from the Athosians."

Justin's grin faded a little, "I'll do that, Doctor Weir. Especially if I can get the size issues taken care of."

"How does it work?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, this is the theory," Justin said, reaching for his pad. A few minutes later, there was a holographic image hovering over it. "You can bury the generator itself in a secure location as long as it's in the range of the shield you want to protect. The shield is projected by a focus, usually a crystal, that is shaped to match the shield size." Elizabeth nodded. "Now, the issue is, we can't make it larger than a single person, no matter if we increase energy or crystal size."

"What powers it?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's called the bio-field," Justin replied, "it's related to the Power, being the aspect that all living things carry within them and project into the world around them. It's an energy form that can be detected with specific equipment. Power Rangers, for example, have 'morphers' or 'transmorphers' which collect the bio-field energy and project it onto the Rangers, strengthening their own inner energy to make them stronger, faster, more agile, better healers, essentially, and if you'll excuse the term, it makes them super human. The transmorphers, however, also tap into what we call the 'Universal Morphing Grid' also called the Power or the Grid. That is a meta-physical energy."

"Justin," Elizabeth said, "you're rambling."

"What?" Justin said, then flushed, "Sorry. I just got distracted. Anyways, one of the better analogies I've heard for the bio-field, is that it's like the Force, from Star Wars. Only we can use crystals, and we use lab generated ones here, to focus, concentrate and rework it into shields." Suddenly he jerked up, "Of course!" He said and grabbed the pad, cutting off the holographic display, "Why didn't I think of that before?" A pen materialized in his hand and he began to write.

"Justin," Elizabeth said again.

Justin jumped, but didn't stop writing, "Doctor Weir, I'm sorry, let me get this written down." He paused after a moment, then nodded and put the pad and pen in his bag. "What did you want to ask me?"

"Did you just make a pen appear out of thin air?" Elizabeth finally asked.

Justin turned a dull red, "No, Doctor, I didn't. Although it looks that way." At her look, he sat back, "It's called subspace storage. Normally, I access it by reaching into my bag, which was created to let anyone keyed to it access subspace, but as a Ranger, I can access it without needing a medium like the bag. It's like having a storage box that you can carry around with you. Only it's weightless, invisible and you can store anything non-perishable in it. Most people have to have a lot of prep to use it, but Rangers, with practice, can put anything in subspace and retrieve it. It's like, I think about putting something in my pocket, and taking it back out, but with a special concentration that makes the 'pocket' subspace." He reached out and grabbed something, when his hand pulled back, a book was in his hand. "It's handy for carrying everything I don't want to lose." He pushed his hand forward and released the book, which vanished.

Elizabeth stared at him, not sure, exactly, what he was talking about or doing. "Can you put anything in 'subspace'?" She asked.

"No food," Justin said, "not even MREs, they don't pack well. Nothing living." He paused, "I can't just get something from my room either. It has to be something I've put in subspace already. It's not teleportation or telekinesis."

Elizabeth nodded, "Can you make more bags like yours?"

"Not easily," Justin replied, "making them is a difficult, tiring process. I can do it, but I'll need certain tools to pull it off. I recommend a bag that has more than one section to it, so that a person can, say, pack MREs and a water bottle in one compartment and use the other one for subspace."

"Can anyone here make them?" Elizabeth asked.

"No," Justin shook his head, "mostly, they're made by Eltarean wizards for a fee. It's tiring, but a way for them to make money. A Ranger, who uses subspace naturally, can make them, it's just harder. Someone like Jenna, or TK can do the physical work though. The runes and such can be done by anyone who knows what they're doing."

Elizabeth held up her hand, "Every time I talk to you, I have more questions. If you can find the time, I'd like you to make more of those bags for our Gate teams. I feel that they will be a valuable asset as well as a hidden surprise. I'd also like you to show Rodney your calculations on the bio-field shield generator and see if he can help you with your size problems. I understand that you don't care for Doctor McKay, but the man is exceptionally smart and can help."

Justin nodded, "Will you tell him to look? I tried, back when this was theory, and he wouldn't listen to me. I believe he called it voodoo."

Elizabeth smiled, "I'll talk to him."

"Thank you," Justin said, "and thank you for letting me join Louis, TK and Jenna on their next mission. I'm not sure I want to be a regular on away missions, as I've said, I'm _retired_ from that sort of excitement, but I'm stuck here and I need to make a contribution to the community." He stood up and headed for the door, "Depending on if my theory works," he said, turning back, "we may need that puddle jumper in the next few days."

"Tell TK to talk to Sheppard," Elizabeth said, "and send me and Rodney a report."

"Yes ma'am," Justin replied and vanished out the door.


	14. Planet Angel Grove

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or Stargate Atlantis

* * *

As the team stepped through the gate onto PBX-922, Justin was hard put to keep from laughing. The Stargate was located in an arid location that put him in mind of Angel Grove, most specifically the land around the Power Chamber. As he moved to the edge of the platform, Justin glanced up at the cliffs that provided minimal protection from the sun, "I know you said these places were like Earth," he said as T.K. stepped up beside him, "but this is a little much."

"It is hot," T.K. admitted.

"It's not that bad," Justin replied, "it's just like Angel Grove, or rather, it's just like the desert _outside_ of Angel Grove."

"The Ancient outpost," Ferretti said as he stepped up on Justin's other side, "is that way." He consulted a device in his hand for a moment before setting off in the indicated direction. Justin and T.K. followed, with Jenna and their Athosian guide Janos behind them.

Justin settled his blaster in his arms and looked around again, still unable to deny how much this place cried 'home' to him. He just kept reminding himself what had happened to the Power Chamber which enabled him to keep his guard up.

When they finally reached the outpost, Justin was sweating, but not half as much as the rest of the team, although T.K. was taking the heat the hardest. "I'm from Alaska," he told Justin as they stopped outside the outpost, "I'm not designed for the heat." After T.K. had drunk some water, he looked better, and he got the door open with a minimum of effort.

Justin found himself following Jenna around, recording their exploration of the outpost with a camera Rodney had given him. Finally, Jenna got distracted by a working computer, and Justin leaned against a wall to observe. He'd no sooner begun to relax when the wall vanished and even his quick reflexes couldn't save him from measuring his length on the ground. "Justin?" Jenna said as she turned. Justin had a brief glimpse of her pale face before the wall reformed.

"That's not good," he muttered as he strained to see through the pitch blackness. Suddenly, a light came on. Justin pushed himself to his feet and looked around. This was not the Ancient designs he'd been familiar with this looked, older and different.

The room becoming visible in the brightening light looked like a control room with rectangular pedestals laid out in a neat pattern facing a large view screen. It looked familiar in a way, and Justin couldn't help but to get up and touch one of the panels. A small screen on the panel lit up with the words _Ranger Ivede_ in a harsh green light.

Justin hissed softly at the words, they were the old Eltarean, a language he had picked up at the Academy as part of understand were words like 'zord' had come from. Recognizing the keyboard underneath, again as an older version of what he was used to, Justin typed in his name, team and planetary designation.

_Welcome Ranger._

Justin shook his head and typed in a query, _Ranger Logs, Identify._ As he did, he could almost _feel_ the Power moving in his mind, making the language not only understandable but one he could use to communicate. As information began to flow over the screen, Justin pulled his tablet out of his bag and sent a series of commands to allow the information to be transferred for personal study.

Justin was working through his second download when his communicator went off. For a long moment, Justin stared at his wrist, trying to remember why it would sound. As it went off a second time, he remembered creating a second wrist unit for Ferretti in case something happened to his radio. Hurriedly he hit the communication button, "This is Justin," he said.

"Justin, what the hell, are you ok?" Ferretti demanded.

"Uh, yeah," Justin replied, "I'm good, why?"

"Maybe because you fell through a wall and your radio isn't working," Ferretti replied.

Justin glanced around, "I think there's shielding on this room that blocks the radio frequencies. You wouldn't believe what's here though. I'm almost done; I'll be back in a second."

"Something over there is pulling energy," Jenna said suddenly, from the softer tone, Justin thought she was probably standing away from the communicator.

"Yeah, that's me," Justin said, and his tablet beeped. "I'm coming back through, stand away from the door." He tucked the device away and tapped a standby command into the computer. Then he walked back to the wall he'd fallen through, placed his morpher bearing hand on it and sent a firm, mental command to let him out of the room.

His arrival on the other side placed him in the middle of the team and he took a deep breath, "Sorry about that," he told them with a bright smile, "that room, it had Eltarean technology, real old, but still it was Eltarean. It even used the Eltarean language." He patted his bag, "I pulled some stuff that I can study back on Atlantis too."

Ferretti opened his mouth to say something when seven tall, white creatures burst into the room, "Shit, Wraith!" T.K. said and fired his P-90.

Justin went still long enough to take a good look at the psychic vampire aliens, and then he drew his blaster and fired. As he moved to support Jenna, he noticed that his blaster shots weren't stopping the Wraith completely, although they were taking damage from the hits. After the seven, however, came seven more and they were suddenly too close to risk shooting. "Justin, don't even think about it," Jenna said as Justin holstered his blaster.

Justin gave her a cocky grin as he pulled his secondary weapon from his bag. "Never do." Pointing the short, rectangular rod at the Wraith, he flipped a switch and it unfolded into a sword. With a yell, Justin threw himself on the Wraith, distracting them by getting into their personal space and using every trick he'd learned in twenty-seven years of studying the martial arts to clear space.

In the end, Jenna found the hidden escape route and they used it in a hurry. The escape tunnel came out close to the Stargate and they were able to dial out and get back to Atlantis before the Wraith could realize where they'd gone.

As they walked back through the gate, Justin looked down in his hand, not the sword wielding hand, the free one, and couldn't keep the disgust he felt when confronted by the exceptionally familiar, sapphire blue crystal that had appeared in it. When McKay arrived to fuss at them, he sighed, "Doctor McKay," he said and dropped the gem in the man's hand, "why don't you see what you can find out from this? I don't have the gene to work the equipment here."

Not that it would do any good, of course. Justin knew exactly what that was, a Power crystal, and he knew that he'd gotten it while fighting the Wraith for some unknown reason, but there was no way in hell he was ever going to admit why. He was, after all, retired.


	15. Power Crystal Red

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or Power Rangers

A/N: In the interest of keeping things going...

* * *

John was waiting when the puddle jumper landed in the jumper bay. The back opened and a pair of marines came down, followed by Teyla and Justin talking quietly. Justin had a large bag swung over his shoulder and when he reached the ramp, he nodded at Teyla and headed towards the back of the bay. "Hello John," Teyla said as she walked closer, "why do I get the feeling that you were not waiting for me?"

John blushed slightly, "I was hoping to speak with Justin," he admitted after a moment.

"Is everything all right?" Teyla asked.

"I'm sure it will be once I speak with him," John said. "I'll talk to you later Teyla." He stepped around her and followed Justin to the back of the bay. As he walked around the jumper Justin had disappeared around he blinked in surprise to find a large, open doorway. Justin was leaning against the doorway, "Justin," John said.

"Major Sheppard," Justin replied, "welcome to the machine shop."

"Machine shop," John replied.

"That's what I call it," Justin said, "McKay showed it to me when I asked where I could work metal. He said the Ancients used it to fix puddle jumpers." He straightened up and stepped forward, "Did you need something, sir?"

"You were on the Mainland for almost a month, Justin," John said.

"I cleared it with McKay and Weir," Justin replied, "and the Athosians said it was ok too."

"Ferretti seemed to be under the impression you'd be going on at least one mission with his team," John commented.

Justin huffed a laugh, "Yeah, I don't think so."

"Why not?" John asked, "You did a great job last time."

Justin turned away from him then back, "Major Sheppard, I really don't want to get caught up in another war. Not as unprepared as I am." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "I'm working on being better prepared."

"By the way," John said, feeling that a brief subject change might help, "did you really use a sword against the Wraith?"

Justin actually laughed, "Yeah, I did." He reached into his bag and pulled out a blue and silver cube, did something and it unfolded into a sword. "I'm more familiar with martial arts than with guns, and when the blaster wasn't powerful enough, I just went with my secondary strategy."

"What strategy?" John asked.

"Hit them until they stop moving." Justin replied.

John laughed, "I like that strategy."

"You're a red, of course you do," Justin said and retracted his sword and slid it back in his bag.

"So, what are you working on here?" John asked, nodding at the shop.

"Well," Justin said, "come see." John followed Justin into the shop and looked around curiously, "I was on the mainland doing some field testing," Justin said casually. "Not just the bioshield, which is coming along beautiful, but some things I think the gate teams could use."

"Yeah?" John asked.

Justin led him over to a long table with a wire frame on it. "This is just a prototype," he said, "but I've been working on stuff using anti-gravitational fields." He caressed the frame for a moment, "This one is going to be a collapsible stretcher. Something that can be carried with a team on foot so if someone gets hurt, they just have to unfold it, activate the antigravs and pull it where you need to go. I have a rigid frame that can sustain self propulsion, but the collapsible has to have an outside force to make it move."

"That's fantastic," John said, "this could really help."

"These aren't ready yet," Justin said. "Although the rigid frames are nearly done."

"What's the problem?" John asked.

"They weigh a hundred and fifty pounds," Justin said. He spread his hands, "I'm basing these off flying surfboards, which don't worry about weight requirements." Then he put his hands on the counter and leaned on them, "McKay keeps saying there's people that could help, but the crystals got done and I had to take them out and there was field testing and building."

"Building," John repeated.

"I haven't managed to shield the village," Justin said, "although I'm working on it every chance I get. Given the work I've done, we have a community building that can be totally covered by the shield. The Athosians and I built the building and set up the shield. Now, if the Wraith show up, or they get more of those storms, they have a place where they can be protected. Once the shields go up, no one else is going to get in."

"You're sure of that," John said.

Justin grinned and turned around, with a soft grunt, he hefted something and spun around, "Flying surfboard, Major. I dive bombed that shield for a full day and nothing I threw at it did more than create a pretty light show."

John eyed the device Justin presented him, it looked like it might have once been a surfboard, but the nose was crumpled up, "Everything?" He said.

Justin sighed, "I jumped off before it hit. I was simulating a dart on a kamikaze run." He put the board back behind him, "Mostly that's what I've been working on here."

"You're doing a lot of good," John said, "but you need to think about doing more field work. I think they've found more Eltarean technology but that's your area of expertise."

"Right," Justin said, nodding, "Right." He looked around the shop for a minute, then turned to John, "did you have any other questions?"

"This shield of yours," John said, "could it work on Atlantis?"

"Not nearly as effectively as it does on the mainland," Justin replied. "If you've ever heard the theory that running water disrupts magic is partially accurate. The movement of the water makes it less stable than the earth for things using the biofield."

"Justin, you're back!" Dr MacTayo exclaimed from the doorway.

"Hi Jenna," Justin said, "T.K."

"I wasn't sure you were talking to me," T.K. said quietly.

Justin sighed, "I told you, T.K., I don't know what you want from me, but I'm not going to go through this again."

"Go through what?" John asked.

Justin reached in his pocket, "Remember this?" He held up the bright blue crystal he'd brought back from his one mission through the gate.

"Yeah, I thought McKay had that," John said.

"He couldn't figure it out," Justin said.

"Well, sir," T.K. said, "the last mission we were on, where we found the Eltarean equipment, I came back with this." In the palm of T.K.'s hand was a red crystal the same size and shape as Justin's blue one.


	16. Chain of Thought

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or the Stargate Universe, I'm just having fun.

A/N: This one is going to be slow. I lost the muse for a bit, but I'm getting my feet wet again. Info about the Stargate series comes from Wikipedia. This is a chapter I've always planned to write. There wasn't a new chapter, just fixed a minor data mix up. Thank you unknown guest for the correction!

* * *

Justin regarded the collapsible stretcher with a frown, "Why won't you work?" He muttered.

"What's wrong with it?"

Justin jerked around, startled, and blinked as McKay's second, Dr Zelenka, "Doctor," he said politely, realizing he'd grabbed his smaller blaster in his movement. "I apologize," he slid the blaster on the counter, "You startled me."

"That is all right," Zelenka replied, though he did glance nervously at the gun.

"Can I help you with something?" Justin asked, shifting to put the gun out of Zelenka's line of sight. "Not a lot of people come down here."

"This workshop is to repair jumpers, no?" Zelenka asked with a hesitant smile.

"That's what McKay told me," Justin replied, "I haven't really looked into all of that."

"Of course," Zelenka said, "I am working on the jumpers and I was hoping to use this space."

"I can clear my stuff out," Justin said instantly.

"No," Zelenka said, "I'm sure we can work around each other. What are you trying to do?"

Justin sighed, "I'm trying to restructure this to weigh less." He smacked the stretcher, "I can't make the anti-gravs any lighter, so I'm trying to make the rest of it weigh less so that it can be carried easier."

"Why not have more than one person carry parts of it?" Zelenka asked as he looked at the structure.

Justin shook his head, "The antigravs need a specific style of structure to work." He sighed, "I was really hoping not to have to redesign the antigravs before I had a working prototype."

"Maybe you should work on something else," Zelenka offered, "would you like to learn about the jumpers?"

"Sure," Justin said, "a change is as good as a rest."

He was elbow deep in one of the jumpers, matching wires for Zelenka, when T.K. tracked him down. "What are you doing?" T.K. asked.

Justin didn't even look up, "Helping Doctor Zelenka. I needed a break." He turned his head and called, "Does that help?"

"Hold it there," Zelenka called back.

"Are you coming to movie night?" T.K. asked.

"What are you watching?" Justin replied.

"Escape from L.A.," T.K. replied. "It's about how after California fell off into the ocean, LA became a prison. It has Kurt Russell in it, which has Jenna excited about it." He paused, "She thinks he looks like General O'Neil."

Justin's head connected with the access hatch to the side of the jumper and he swore vociferously. "What happened?" Zelenka asked as he appeared around the corner of the jumper, "You can let go."

Justin stepped back, rubbing his head. "I had an epiphany," he told them sourly. "I never realized those things were supposed to hurt."

T.K. laughed, but Zelenka only blinked at him, "Are you ok?"

Justin grinned, "Yeah, I'm fine. Do you need any more help?"

"No, it's good," Zelenka replied, "you can go."

"Great," Justin said, he turned to T.K., "do you know where Ferretti is? I have to give him a hard time."

"He was at the shooting range," T.K. said, "he's probably still there."

Justin grinned, "Want to help me test something? We'll have to take the long way."

"Well," T.K. began.

"I swear they're safe, I've been building these for years," Justin said as he hurried into his work shop.

"All right," T.K. said, following him.

Justin picked up two long, wooden forms. "Here," he said, holding out a bright red board to T.K., "put it on the ground and say _'yek',_ firmly." He put his own, blue, board on the ground and held his hand over it, "_Yek."_

The board lifted up two feet and Justin grinned and stepped on it. "There are no straps," T.K. said.

"Force fields," Justin replied. "You won't fall, T.K., I promise."

T.K. put the board down and said, "_Yek."_ The board lifted up and he stepped on it.

"Feel that?" Justin asked, "The board responds to you. Just follow me, I promise I won't get too crazy and jump off a balcony or something."

Just leaned forward and his board moved at a gentle walking pace, he glanced back to watch as T.K. followed him. Justin grinned as they maneuvered around the jumper bay before heading out the door. He'd been waiting for an excuse to get T.K. on one of his new grav-boards; the snowboard inspired devices were fun, and promised to be a source of envy with people who couldn't activate them. "Keep up," he called over his shoulder to T.K. and crouched down to pick up speed.

Ferretti and Sheppard were part of a group using the shooting range when Justin and T.K. entered. Justin had unbent enough to laugh at T.K.'s careful handling of the board, and to show off, tilted the board up enough for a casual flip dismount. "You look like you're having fun," Sheppard commented as the group secured their firearms.

"I would say so," Ferretti agreed.

Justin left his board hovering and stalked forward to walk around Ferretti for a moment, unable to muffle his grin as he did so. "I knew you were familiar," he told Ferretti as he came around to look into his face. "I knew I'd heard of the Stargate before."

"How?" Sheppard asked, breaking his train of thought.

Justin stepped back and tucked his hands behind his back, "When I lived in Angel Grove, I had friends who were obsessed with sci-fi movie. There was one movie, with an added TV series, they were obsessed with, and we all had to watch repeatedly. T.K. reminded me of it when he mentioned Kurt Russell and Jack O'Neil in the same sentence. Kurt Russell and James Spader played the main characters in the movies, but Russell's character was played by Richard Dean Anderson, and Spader's was played by Michael Shanks in the TV series. There was a character carried over from the movie, played by French Stewart in the movie and Brent Stait as a recurring character in the series."

"What does that have to do with me?" Ferretti asked.

"It was about a group of military and civilian explorers who utilized an alien device to affect a transfer," Justin continued with a devilish grin, "which probably sounds familiar to you guys. The movie was called Stargate, the TV series was called Stargate SG-1, and it had an off shoot series called Stargate Atlantis. Crowe and Anderson portrayed Jack O'Neil. Spader and Shanks played Doctor Daniel Jackson. Stewart and Stait, on the other hand, played Louis Ferretti."

Everyone stared at him for a long moment, then Ferretti blinked, "You mean, we're an actual TV series in your world?"

Justin shrugged, "Something like that. I've heard a few things around here that Power Rangers is a TV series on your planet. No one will admit to it, but if we ever contact Earth, I'm going to research it thoroughly."

"And you just happen to remember this," Sheppard said.

"Two of my Ranger teammates were groupies," Justin said, "I heard and overheard a _lot_ that I don't actively think of. What T.K. told me about the movie just clicked it together for me. It's been bothering me for months; I just couldn't find the connection. I never watched Atlantis, and Cassie and Ashley went on to become Astros and traveled through space so all the interest in science fiction just dropped off. They were able to have their own adventures." Mentally, he also added, _and I didn't want to be reminded of them at the time."_


	17. Power Crystal Yellow

Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers or Stargate Atlantis

A/N: This chapter just kept growing, every time I thought to end it, a little bit more would pop into my head. I don't really have a time line for this, except to say that it's nearing the end of Season One. Also, Justin's theory here about Planet Angel Grove is true, and his bit about creating Rangers was just my exposition on how to create an original ranger team.

* * *

"Jungle world," Ford muttered as they walked behind Teyla.

"Do you have to keep saying that?" McKay asked, "What's wrong with the jungle, besides the bugs and the citrus?"

"Both of you be quiet," John said. He glanced around them again and adjusted the grip on his gun. "I'm getting tired of hearing you two." He knew McKay would not let that go, was probably opening his mouth to object when an all too familiar piercing whine made them all dive off the path. "Teyla," John said once a trio of Wraith darts had passed them.

"They are going towards the village," Teyla replied.

"Back to the gate," John decided, "Ford with Teyla, Rodney with me. Don't split up."

Racing to the gate was an all too familiar feeling, one he wished he didn't know about. To the left of them, John heard something crashing through the jungle, but he didn't stop to look. That was an excellent way to get killed. They exploded out of the jungle and jogged up the hill to the Stargate. Teyla and Ford reached it first, and Teyla dialed the gate while Ford kept an eye out.

McKay reached the top of the hill and bent over as the wormhole spiraled open. "Sir, there's a kid," Ford said suddenly.

John turned to see a slender figure sprint out of the jungle, followed by an all too familiar Wraith drone. "Cover fire," John said, "McKay, contact Weir. We'll figure anything else out later."

"Yes sir," Ford replied. They advanced down the hill enough to get a bead on the Wraith.

"Kid," John shouted as they fired, "here!"

The kid's path adjusted and he shot towards them, "You are ancients," he called over the gunfire.

"Not exactly," John replied, "but we are friends."

"John, gate's cleared," Teyla shouted before joining them in firing.

"You can come with us," John told the kid, "through the wormhole, to the City of the Ancients."

"Come on," McKay called.

"Go through, McKay," John shouted as the Wraith finally fell. "Kid, come with us or stay, you'll have to decide now."

"I come," the kid said and hurried up the hill to follow Teyla.

"Doctor Weir isn't going to be too happy with you, sir," Ford observed as he stepped through the gate.

John glanced at the smoke now rising from the village they'd been headed to, "Don't I know it," he murmured before stepping through the gate as well.

The gate closed as soon as he cleared the wormhole, and the shield came up shortly thereafter, "Major Sheppard," Dr Weir said, "are we going to have the talk about guests again?"

"No ma'am," John replied, "I had to think fast though. The Wraith was chasing him."

"The Wraith are always chasing me," the kid said, "I am Akamu of kyth'Satoro."

"An Eltereen," Teyla said, "I had not known there were any of your people left."

"I am probably last," Akamu replied, "the Wraith attacked my kyth two weeks ago and I have been searching ever since."

"Searching?" John said, "what for?"

Akamu pointed at John's arm, "Kaleo, who spoke to the stars, said that I would find my destiny with the men who bore that symbol." John glanced down at his Atlantis shoulder patch. "He said that I would find others here with the Power Crystals." He turned his hand over to reveal a yellow crystal. John had seen two crystals like it before, in red and blue.

"Get Justin," he said over his shoulder.

"You have seen the Crystal before," Akamu said.

John nodded, and then looked at Weir, "Justin brought one that was blue back from his first mission. Lieutenant Kavanaugh has a red one. Justin knows more about them than he's willing to talk about."

"You wanted to see me sir?" Justin asked as he glided in on his flying board.

"Justin, this is Akamu, Akamu this is Justin. Show him." John said.

Akamu studied Justin for a moment, and then held out his Power Crystal. John watched Justin, who studied the kid, and then the crystal. For a brief moment, Justin's eyes widened and his mouth tightened, then an emotionless mask fell into place, "Where did you get that?"

"It came to me when the Wraith attacked my people," Akamu said quietly.

Justin clinched a fist, "I don't know what you came here to find, Akamu, but I can't help you."

"Justin," John said, "will you please join Doctor Weir and my team in the conference room. Ford, will you take Akamu to Doctor Beckett to get checked over."

"Yes sir," Ford said with a quick salute, "If you'll come with me, sir."

"Of course," Akamu replied.

John lead the rest of their group up to the conference room and nodded to Doctor Weir, "I'm sorry," he said simply, "the kid had a Wraith on his heels. I couldn't just let him die."

"Of course not," Dr Weir replied, "I wouldn't have expected you to. Now we have to decide what to do with him."

"He is Eltereen," Teyla said, "from the planet Eltere."

"Eltare," Justin interrupted, "do you mean Eltare?"

"I have always heard it called Eltere," Teyla replied, "I am sure Akamu knows his people's legends better than I, but what I was told was that the planet was targeted by the Wraith every Rising for millennia, but the people remained. They were said to be able to go into space, and they lived among other people as well. Eltereen are known for having secrets that they call the 'mysteries', and only one of the blood can ever learn of them. During the last Rising, the Wraith destroyed Eltere, and the people vanished. All that's left there are ruins. I did not realize it at first, Justin, but the planet you went to, where you found your Eltarean data, must have been Eltere."

"No wonder the planet was so familiar," Justin said, almost to himself.

"What?" John asked.

Justin looked at him for a moment, "The planet was familiar, but I put it down to being like Angel Grove's desert. Now that I think about it, it's a lot like Eltare. Zordon chose the desert mountains for the Power Chamber; excuse me, Command Center, because it reminded him of Eltare. It's just a case of seeing what you're told to see. You said 'it looks like Earth' and I related what I saw to what I knew on Earth. If I hadn't of, I'd have thought of Eltare, I'm almost positive."

"So you think your Eltare is Teyla's Eltere?" Dr Weir asked.

"It makes sense in some ways," Justin replied, "In my report, I said that the Grid had the same design as the one in my dimension, which was created by the Eltareans, but it hadn't been worked in a long time. The people of Eltare created the Grid and harnessed the Power in response to the advances of _Maikan Tumari,_ from the M-51 Galaxy, but it wasn't until after _Tumari_ was driven back that the Eltareans were able to recreate the galaxy drive that is the forerunners of today's hyperdrives and stardrives. If the Wraith were already here and essentially claimed Dominion over the Pegasus Galaxy, _Tumari_ wouldn't have poached, the Eltareans would never have had to create the galaxy drive or truly harnessed the Power to the extent that it is in my world."

"And the names?" Rodney asked, looking fascinated.

Justin shrugged, "Languages shift, and can be missed translated. It happens all the time. For instance, the word spandex, I know it's supposedly an English term for skin-tight workout clothing, but Earthian Rangers in particular, and Human Rangers in general, use it to describe the morphing armor because of how the words translate into English from Eltarean: Synthetic Polyatomic Antimagnitized Neomagical Defensive ExoSkeleton."

"Antimagnitized," McKay said, outrage creeping into his tone.

"I didn't do it!" Justin replied, "It was a mistranslation, ok? It should have been demagnetized, but the person who did the translation was confused and wrote antimagnitized instead. It was decided by the Elders to keep it that way to fit the acronym."

"About the Power Crystals," John said, "what are they?"

Justin was silent for a long moment, his jaw clenched, and then he slumped in his chair, looking weary and pained, "They power morphers to make Rangers," he said finally. "Usually, they've been integrated into morphers before they ever get within six feet of a presumptive Ranger. I guess, because there isn't a mentor or Ranger Technician who could have made the morphers, they're showing up as crystals. I know some teams are able to use the crystals as morphers, but it's difficult and requires a great deal of study."

"Why are they showing up?" Dr Weir asked.

"Because the Power wants a Ranger team in Atlantis," Justin replied. "T.K.'s Red, Jenna, Doctor MacTayo, is Pink, Keoni, one of the medical team, is Green and now Akamu has Yellow."

"You have the blue crystal," Teyla pointed out.

Justin slammed his hand on the table as he stood up. "And if I could give it away, I would! I don't want it; I don't want anything to do with Rangers. I don't know why the Power is doing this to me." He dropped back in his chair, "I am _retired._ I am _Hela'denar'i!_ I don't want anything to do with the Power anymore." He closed his eyes and lowered his head, "I'm sorry. You didn't need to hear that."

"Justin," Dr Weir said, "if the Rangers needed the morphers, could you build them?"

Justin stared at her for a moment, "Yes," he said finally, sounding almost defeated.

"Would you?" She continued.

Justin spun his chair away from them, staring at the wall. Whatever he was thinking, John didn't know, but he could imagine that it must be one hell of a battle in the other man's mind. "To build the morphers," Justin said finally, "I would need to create the power structure, the Zords, the weapons. Their armor would need developing, helmet designs. You can't just build a morpher and call it done. You have to have everything that goes with it. You don't have to _make_ it, but you have to program it into the morphers from the beginning."

He turned back around, his face impassive, but his eyes dark with emotion. "I'll do it. I'll need to start as soon as possible to get it done as fast as possible and there are a few things I need." He looked at McKay, "Those projects will have to go on hold or be reassigned and I'd like permission to use some of the scrapped or discarded projects for salvaged parts." He looked at John, "The collapsible stretcher won't be finished either unless McKay has someone he can trust not to screw up the anti-gravs. I think Zelenka would be the best, he's familiar with the puddle jumper's anti-gravs after all." He looked at Weir, "I won't be able to make those bags for now, the energy cost is too high." Finally, he looked at Teyla, "I won't be able to finish my study of the sticks either. I don't mind sparring, but I'd rather not learn a new weapon while doing this. Someone could end up with them for weapons and no knowledge of how to use them." He sighed, "I'm also going to need TK, Jenna, Keoni and Akamu assigned to work with me for the duration. If I'm going to make them Rangers, they should have a say in things like their suit design, Zords and weapons. No one's going to end up with those damned hand blasters unless they want them."

Weir nodded, "Justin would you step outside for a moment, we need to discuss this."

"Take your time," Justin said and left.

"Do you really think he can do this?" John asked as the doors slid closed.

"I think the question is," Teyla remarked, "should he?"

"If he couldn't do it, he wouldn't say so," McKay said reluctantly, "Justin's not afraid to admit ignorance."

"Justin has said he will do it," Weir said, "can we give him what he's asked for?"

"I can assign TK no problem," John said, "Ferretti's leg won't be field ready for six weeks at minimum. If we let Akamu stay, we'll at least know where he is too."

"Jenna is working on projects with Justin," McKay said, "I can simply hand over all of their projects to the other scientists. They'll complain, but they'll do the work, idiots they may be."

"And the salvage materials?" Weir prompted.

McKay waved his hand, "I assumed that was rhetorical, Doctor Weir, of course he can have use of them. He raids the storage room every time he needs something anyways, I don't know why he needs my permission now."

"I'll talk to Doctor Beckett about Keoni," Dr Weir said, "and Dr Heightmeyer about Justin. It's been nearly nine months since he came among us, if he is still hurt by what happened, she should e able to help him."

"So we're going to have Rangers then," John said.

"They'll be under your command," Dr Weir said, "of course."

"I'll talk to Justin," Teyla said, "if we are to do this."

"Thank you," Dr Weir said.

"I'll see about those projects," McKay added.

"Meeting dismissed," Dr Weir added.

"Some people aren't going to be happy about how unilateral your decision was," John pointed out as they stood up.

"I am merely opting to give support to our allies and find the most effective way to combat the Wraith," Dr Weir replied, "both of which are my right and duty as leader of this expedition. It's not like I'm giving C4 out to random people in hopes of a trade negotiation, John."


	18. The Power Structure

Discliamer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or Power Rangers Turbo

A/N: Just some world building here...team meetings, teaching stuff. Kind of boring in some ways, but it shows the team being team a little. Dragged up a lot of Ranger facts here. You can always skip to the end for the good stuff.

* * *

The presumptive Rangers met on the west pier a week after Dr Weir ordered Justin to create a Ranger team for Atlantis. Justin had vanished shortly after the request was given, leaving an email for everyone explaining he had to find a place to begin. Yesterday, Justin had taken Major Sheppard and Dr McKay to see the tower he wanted to repurpose as for the team and get permission to use it. Smaller than the other towers, Justin had chosen it because it did offer some living quarters, but it also had several large rooms that could be used for training and labs with some effort. When Sheppard had referred to it as a command center, Justin had responded that 'tower or Ranger Tower' would be a better name. Justin could only hope that neither of the men noticed how shaken he had been at the Major's comment.

Now, though, Justin faced the four presumptive Rangers outside the tower and tried to put all thoughts of his last team from his mind. "This," he told them, "is Ranger Tower. Although we may eventually all take up residence here, Doctor Weir and Major Sheppard have asked that we continue to use our current living spaces. Except Akamu, who doesn't actually have space yet with the group, you can pick a room here now." He eyed the Pegasus native for a moment, but Akamu only nodded. "The Tower is going to need some work to really fit our needs, but the basics are already here, including transporters and space. We have the whole tower for Ranger use, but I don't think we'll actually need it."

"Why out here?" T.K. asked, "Why aren't we closer to the rest of the expedition?"

"To keep them safe," Keoni said, "if we're going to be going after the Wraith, or the Genii, we're going to be targeted right back, right Justin?"

"I don't know what will happen," Justin replied, "I'm not leading this team. T.K.'s the leader here; I'm just your advisor."

"You're our teammate," T.K. corrected.

"I'm retired," Justin snapped back, and then sighed, "Let's not argue that, ok? What we need to be doing is developing the Power structure so that when we build the morphers we can program the rest of it." He turned around and started into the tower. Realizing the others were still standing there he turned, "Are you coming? We don't have a life time to do this in." Satisfied they were now following, Justin headed to the lower level lounge and set to work, putting out a holographic emitter and hooking it up to his pad. "Everyone have a seat," Justin said as he sat down, "and I'll try to explain what we're doing."

He watched everyone get settled and nodded, "Right, so, every Ranger team is unique. This is in part because even in the same color, no two Rangers are alike. It is also because each power structure is created to deal with a specific threat. While a Ranger who was activated to fight, say, the Machine Empire could fight the Wraith, they wouldn't be strong enough to finish the job. Their weapons, their Zords, none of it would be right. In some cases, a power source can be altered or updated in response to new threats without much alteration, but it requires the energy equivalent of a supernova to pull it off. Back in my dimension, it was a little easier to do because the Power has been used, shaped, and structured for millions of years. Every user, especially the Rangers, have left their mark on the Grid. Here in Pegasus, however, the Grid is a lot less structured. My theory is that the Eltareans who created the Grid lost the knowledge of it under the Wraith's persistent attacks, but that's a theory for another day. Today, we are going to begin taming the Grid by beginning a power structure."

"What's a power structure?" Keoni asked.

"It's the phrase used to reference everything associated to a Ranger team from weapons to Zords to extra vehicles that in some way draw on the Power." Justin replied, thankful that he'd discarded any secrecy clause five minutes after waking up. He'd hate to have to explain the Power to them right now.

"What are 'Zords'?" Akamu asked.

"They're vehicles," Justin said, "like the puddle jumpers or Wraith darts, except they are designed for individual fighting or to combine together to create a larger ship called a Megazord. We'll talk about them later. Our first step should be to select a cohesive theme for the team. That will make it easier to design and voice activate everything." He drew up a file and sent it to the projector, "The first Earth team used animals, from the ancient to the mystic and even the common."

"Is that a frog?" Jenna said.

Justin snickered, "Yeah, that's Adam's zord. It's part of the reason we called him Kermit."

"What's the other part?" Keoni asked.

"His second color was green," Justin replied. "The Turbo Rangers, on the other hand, used cars." He flicked the holo of the Turbo Zords to the projector. "Wind Chaser, Dune Star, Mountain Blaster, Desert Thunder, and Red Lightning were created by the Zeo Rangers when they realigned their power source to fight Divatox. Later, the Phantom Ranger gifted the second Turbo Team with the Rescue Zords, Wind Rescue, Star Racer, Siren Blaster, Thunder Loader, and Lightening Fire Tamer. Although created by an outside source, the Rescue Zords were designed to fit into the Turbo power structure. The Astro Rangers, on the other hand, originally didn't have individual Zords; they only had the Astro Megaship which became the Astro Megazord. They later acquired the Delta Megaship, which became the Delta Megazord and could combine with the Astro Megaship to become the Astro Delta Megazord. They would later receive personal Zords meant for their power structure in the form of the Mega Vehicle Zords. The Mega V's as they are called or V-1 through V-5 form the Mega Voyager. Their sixth Ranger, Silver Astro, had the Mega Winger which had what is called a warrior mode or could pair with the Mega Voyager to become the Winged Mega Voyager."

"Wow," T.K. said, staring as the Winged Mega Voyager rotated before them.

"Confused yet?" Justin teased, "There are some teams that have their personal Zords and then a dozen auxiliary Zords to alter their fire power against their opponents. That's one advantage we have here, so far, the Wraith have shown no talent for monster making like the villains from my dimension."

"Monster making?" Akamu asked.

"It's a form of magic," Justin replied, "mostly used by the UAE and other villains. They have their 'shock troops', putties, cogs, what have you," he flicked images to the projector. "Then they have the monsters, or as a Ranger I knew put it, the 'monster of the week'. He flipped out a few stills. "Monster makers create them through a medium, clay, rock, computer programs, whatever works best, and then animate them, usual with some ability or other. Most of them have a weapon that shoots lasers or can create them on their own. Let me tell you, your suit might keep you from being burned through or electrocuted, but it can feel like you've been tied to the goal posts of an NHL practice after a battle. You might not bleed, but you'll bruise, or even suffer broken bones."

"Hazards of war," T.K. said bluntly. The other three nodded firmly.

Justin sighed and pulled up ranger suits, "The Ranger suit is fairly standard, as you can see. It doesn't actually look like much, but unless your enemy overloads it, it'll protect you from anything, even space. The helmets often reflect the nature of the power structure."

"Does it have to have a skirt?" Jenna asked suddenly.

"What?" Justin asked.

"All the pink rangers, they have skirts," Jenna replied.

"Well, yeah," Justin said.

"I don't want a skirt," Jenna said firmly.

"All right," Justin said. "We still need a theme."

"What are you thinking?" T.K. asked.

"My first thought was elements," Justin said, "but there's no fifth element unless we fake an element, and fire's actually a chemical reaction. If we were all Earthian, I'd advocate the animal structure, but I don't know what types of animals Akamu is familiar with and uncertainty in the creation of a power structure can lead to weakness."

"Justin," Akamu said, "which one is your old team?"

"Mine?" Justin said, he pulled it up, "the Turbos. Mountain Blaster."

"Mountain, Lightning, Desert, Star, and Wind, correct?" Akamu said.

"Essentially," Justin replied.

"We could use them," Akamu said, "thus Justin will have a word he is familiar with, but in a new setting."

"We could use dragons," T.K. countered, at the team's looks he spread his hands, "I've always liked dragons."

"Or," Justin said, pulling out his stylus and opening his bright ideas folder, "we could use a bit of both."


	19. A Blue Ally

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or Stargate Atlantis.

A/N: Ep Tag: Letters from Pegasus, about three weeks after the last chapter. Keoni's phrases are 'crazy guy' 'hard time' 'foreigners' and 'brother', in order. For some reason, it felt important to do all of this before the last few chapters. Yes, the last few chapters. I don't know when, but I want the second season equivilant to be a second story...it's more about Jenna then about Justin though. Oh, and that is a NOT CANON explination. I just thought it sounded good...based off how the Mystics fought large monsters.

* * *

Jenna stared at Ford for a long moment then she nodded, "Thank you for thinking of us," she said with a smile. "When do you want to do the video?"

"Now is good, ma'am," Ford replied, nervously.

"All right," Jenna said, she straightened on her stool, "I'm ready when you are."

Ford fiddled with the camera in his hands, Jenna thought of how many hopes and dreams had been saved in the device. Then she wondered what people would think of her own contribution. "I'm starting the recording," Ford warned, "now."

Jenna took a breath and smiled, "Hi Mum, hi Dad, I didn't expect to be able to contact you, given the nature of my work, but I couldn't say no. I love you guys, and I do miss you, but I'm glad I came. I needed to get away from everything and clear my head. I may be gone a lot longer than I thought I would be, and I can't tell you what's going on, but if you ever do get to find out, I hope you can be proud of me. Give my love to the family, and, and make sure Hannah has sunflowers. They were her favorite. I have to go, but I love you guys. Here's hoping I'll see you soon." She nodded to Ford, "that's all I wanted to way."

"Are you sure?" Ford asked even as he pressed something on the camera.

"I said everything," Jenna replied. "I'll go get T.K. and Keoni, you wait here." She slid off her stool and all but ran for the door.

**…**

T.K. eyed the camera for a moment, then sighed and nodded, "Let's do this then," he said."

"Ready now," Ford replied, and pressed a button.

"Hi Clan Kavanaugh," T.K. said, "I know when I left we weren't on the best of terms, and I said I didn't care if I never heard from you again, but I've been thinking lately and, you're my family. Maybe I don't always like you guys, but I don't hate you. I still don't know what I'm supposed to be apologizing for, and I think we'll have to agree to disagree about that, but I want you all to know that I do love you guys. I don't think I'm going to make it back this time, and I know you can't hear the whole story just now, but hopefully when it's all declassified you could maybe hate me just a little less. My friend Justin says the galaxy needs all the hope we can get, so here's hoping you actually listen to this instead of burn it. I don't know what the good doctor said in his message home, but I do know that he's mostly in one piece still, but Doctor Beckett says his eyebrows will grow back, and a crooked nose gives him character." He paused for a moment, "Here's my hope for a little less hatred and maybe a little understanding. Good bye." He nodded to Ford, "That's it then." He jumped down, "I'll send Keoni in."

**…**

Keoni swallowed as Ford signaled the start up of the recording. "Aloha Mom, Dad," he said, waving to the camera. "I can't tell you where I am, but I'm doing great. I know you thought I was a lolo buggah for taking this job, but I love it even though its haad rub right now." He took a deep breath, "I hope you can understand that I'm doing what I feel is important, even if I'm surrounded by haole who never rode a wave in their lives. It's become more than just getting money for the resort, it's a different kind of paradise here. I'm hoping to come home soon, and I want to bring my new braddah with me. I know you'll love him just as much as I do." He gestured to Ford, "That's it."

Ford nodded and messed with the camera, "Was there any English in that?" Justin asked, stepping through from the hallway.

"Of course," Keoni replied. "What's up?"

"Board testing," Justin replied with a lazy smile, "I think I fixed your stabilizer."

An alarm began to sound and Justin shifted, tensing up as he turned to a blank wall screen, "Show me," he said out loud.

The screen came on, showing a field of stars, and then a blinking dot appeared. "What is it?" Ford asked.

"Incoming," Justin said. "I'm tapping the scanners now." He produced his tablet and began to move his fingers over it. "Keoni, do you have your radio?"

"Yes," Keoni said rolling his eyes. Justin was notorious for taking off his radio while working.

"Contact the Gate Room," Justin replied. His fingers stuttered as he looked at his pad. "Scratch that, give me your radio."

Keoni took it off and dropped it in Justin's hand, "What's going on?" He asked.

"I don't know yet," Justin replied, "Doctor Weir, are you seeing this?"

He paused, listening, and Keoni wished he could hear the conversation.

"I agree, ma'am. That's why I contacted you," Justin said finally. "The resolution isn't the clearest, but a flying truck in space is fairly obvious. Given the color values, I might know him."

Justin fell silent again and waved a hand briefly before returning to his pad.

"I'm sending out a primary identifier now," Justin said. "If by some miracle that's Storm Blaster, I'll make sure of it."

Another pause while Keoni tried to remember who Storm Blaster was.

"Primary identifier confirmed," Justin announced, "secondary identifier commenced." He looked up, "First is password, password, second is memory tag, third is," he paused as his pad beeped. "Secondary identifier confirmed. Tertiary identifier commencing." He pulled back his right sleeve, where he normally wore the blue leather band. Now, there was a boxy device which seemed to scream alien to Keoni. Justin pressed a button on the device and held it for a long moment, and then he released it.

Dr Weir must have said something, because Justin then said, "It takes time, ma'am. It uses a different system."

The device beeped and flashed blue; "Hold on," Justin said, he tapped his pad, "Tertiary identifier confirmed, Doctor Weir. That's an ally coming in, request permission to send him coordinates for Ranger Tower."

Keoni found himself holding his breath as Justin waited for Weir's response. Finally, he smiled, "Thank you ma'am," Justin said. "Send whoever you need too, but I promise, Storm Blaster's an ally of long standing." He pulled of the radio and handed it to Keoni. "Storm Blaster and I met back when I was a Ranger. He's essentially a sentient car, but it's more complicated than that. I can't believe he's here. Come on." With that, Justin sprinted from the room.

Keoni followed, with Ford on his heels. They piled into the transporter and Justin tapped the key for the base of the Tower. They were met there by T.K. and Jenna, with Akamu tumbling out of the transporter just behind them. "What's going on?" T.K. asked.

"We've got an ally," Justin said as he tapped his pad, "one of the best we could have." He looked up, shading his eyes, and everyone else followed his example.

For a long moment, nothing was visible, and then Keoni spotted a dot in the sky that quickly resolved into, as Justin had said, a flying truck. It was a blue vehicle that wouldn't have looked out of place anywhere in the U.S., save that it was flying. As they watched, it landed lightly further down the pier and rolled towards them. "Justin," T.K. said, "that truck doesn't have a driver."

"He doesn't need one," Justin replied before sprinting forward. Upon reaching the truck, he slapped its hood and the truck roared it's motor in reply. The door popped open and Justin scrambled in with a laugh. As soon as he seemed settled, the door snapped shut and the truck rolled towards them. "It's ok," Justin said as they got within hearing distance, "They're friends, Storm Blaster. That's T.K., Jenna, Akamu, Keoni, and Aidain. They work here."

The truck's engine revved and he truck seemed to shake.

"I know buddy," Justin replied, "this whole thing is bad news, but unless you can take me back."

Keoni's heart sank at that thought, but he was distracted by the arrival of Major Sheppard and a squad of Marines.

"It's ok," Justin said, sliding out of the truck, "nobody start shooting. This is Storm Blaster, an old ally of mine. Storm Blaster, this is Major Sheppard, the military leader."

The truck made some more engine noises and honked once.

"He says pleased to meet you," Justin said easily. "Major, this is Storm Blaster. I don't know all of why he's here, but however and why ever he's here, it was a one-way trip I believe."

More engine noise.

"He says that the method of transfer can't be used for a while," Justin translated.

"How can you understand him?" T.K. asked.

"It's like this," Justin said, "Storm Blaster used to be a biped, like us, and he was a Ranger, blue if you're curious. What happened was that when his team needed Zords, they became their Zords. Their enemy used that against them. Although most of the team was destroyed, Storm Blaster and his Red Ranger, Lightning Cruiser, were trapped in their Zord forms. Because of their planetary rating, the Rangers there had to use code names to keep their identities secret. Once they got stuck, they kept using them to protect their families. Storm Blaster is very old, a little eccentric, and has an unusual connection to the Grid. We're linked because we're both Blue Rangers, but it's more, and more complicated, than that. You can think of it as telepathy if you want, because that's pretty close to, although it's not words, its meaning."

"Why is he here?" John asked.

Justin glanced at the car, then away, "My brother and Storm Blaster refused to believe I was dead, so Zhane got his partner Karone to call in a favor from the old days. The trip is essentially one way because of how long the device takes to recharge. There's a care package, but mostly Zhane thought I needed a friendly face." He glanced at the car again, "For certain definitions of a face, of course."


	20. Battle Begun

Disclaimer; I still don't own Power Rangers and Stargate Atlantis.

A/N: Thanks Netflix for having SGA for instant streaming! Ep tagged, the season finale. Wayward Son is almost done, just another chapter or two. Then I have other stories to finish/start and finish, while I plot out the sequal to this, which I have a rough outline of already but no title.

* * *

To say that Justin was over the moon over the arrival of his friend, Storm Blaster was to be putting it mildly, and at the moment, literally. Sheppard found himself standing on the pier close to the Ranger Tower, watching as Justin and his truck flew in for a landing. "Major Sheppard," Justin said as Storm Blaster rolled to a stop, "Can I help you with something?"

"I wanted to have a word with you about the project," Sheppard replied.

"Sure," Justin replied and slipped out of the truck. "Thanks for the ride, buddy," he added, patting the truck's door. He watched Storm Blaster for a moment, and then turned to Sheppard, "So, what do you want to know?"

"I understand you aren't telling anyone about what the Rangers are going to look like beyond generalities?" John said.

"Well, no," Justin said. "It's like having too many cooks in the kitchen, the power gets mixed up if too many people are describing what they want. It's like how a group of eyewitnesses can all see the same thing, but they'll describe it different."

"Oh," John replied, "that actually makes sense. When you're the only one who knows, then your designs are what are used, right?"

Justin shrugged, "That's one way of putting it." His stomach growled and Justin blushed, "I don't mind talking, but could we head to the mess hall while we're doing it?"

"Of course," John said. They walked towards one of the towers.

"When will the satellite mission bear fruit," Justin asked.

"Not soon enough," John muttered, then cleared his throat, "It'll be a few hours yet, they're working on the satellite."

"Oh," Justin replied, "I'm sorry I couldn't go with them."

"You have troubles of your own," John reminded him.

Justin nodded, "I'm almost done with the coding, sir. If the satellite mission fails, the Rangers will be in a position to fight." He paused as they stepped into the transporter, "Four rookie Rangers, with a wild Power, it'll certainly be interesting."

"Of course, you'll be fighting with them," John said.

"No," Justin replied as they walked toward the mess hall. "I wouldn't go within ten feet of an active blue morpher. I'm retired. I'll give you Rangers, I'll mentor them, but I'm not yet ready to get back into the spandex again."

John stopped and reached out to stop Justin, "I'd feel a lot better, and I'm sure the others would as well, if you would fight with them."

Justin's mouth twisted into a bitter grimace, "Saying please isn't enough incentive, Major. I'm done with being a Ranger." He turned and walked away.

John watched him go, "I wish you wouldn't do that," a soft voice said.

John turned to find the young jungle native, Akamu, watching him. "I'm sorry?" John asked.

"Don't push him, Major Sheppard," Akamu said as he glided to a stop beside him. "Justin will only lash out harder for finding his pains unveiled. It is not unlike prodding a healing wound."

John studied the other man for a long moment, but the Pegasus native only looked back calmly, "You sure learned a lot since you arrived," John finally offered.

Akamu smiled, "I am a Yellow Ranger, Major Sheppard. Before, my people called me a soul Healer, because I had a knack for understanding how one's emotions can trap and taunt them. I know very little about Justin Stewart personally, but I have observed a great deal."

"Really," John replied.

"Justin does not underestimate me, but others do," Akamu said, "and it is easy to play the naïve child."

John wasn't quite sure what to say, although he'd played the bumbling idiot routine for most of his military career. Very few of his COs had been worth anything more. Akamu nodded a little, as if hearing John's thoughts, then turned to walk away. "Akamu," John said, and waited for the man to turn, "You'll take care of Justin, won't you?"

Akamu smiled softly, "It is my honor to do so, Major Sheppard, and my joy." Then he continued his trip further down the corridor, leaving John to stand, contemplating the two strangers in his city.

"Major Sheppard," his radio declared, "this is Doctor Weir, please come to the control room." John didn't think twice about running for the transporter. Only the Wraith would have sent Dr Weir to call for him.

It was the Wraith, and Sheppard stood by to ear the results of the attack from the satellite, although even as he cheered, he couldn't help but feel worried. His heart sank as Rodney reported the destruction of the satellite and the loss of Peter Grodin. Something made him look up, and he saw Justin standing in the doorway nearest the mess hall. As their eyes met, Sheppard knew that Justin was thinking of his own story, of how he'd miraculously survived a similar fate. They both knew however, that Peter Grodin had not been so lucky.

Sheppard quietly grieved as Weir announced the failure of the satellite plan, the loss of Grodin, and the plan to evacuate the city. Then he pushed his grief to the back of his mind and turned to Ford to begin issuing orders for the evacuation. Orders he'd never dreamed he'd have to give even after he'd drafted them at Elizabeth's orders.

He lost himself in his work, organizing and seeing to the evacuation of the men under his command in organized group, making sure each group had their scientists with them, and refusing to put up with any moaning from the scientists for the experiments and projects left behind.

One Marine, he did not track down however. As the medical personnel left, he turned a blind eye to the missing member. One scientist did not leave with her colleagues and John did not track her down. He knew that they were waiting for another to pull off some sort of miracle and John was content to let them. They would leave with the last group, however, if he had to send Marines to carry them bodily from the Ranger Tower.

Finally, Rodney came back, and even though John saw the hell in Rodney's eyes and knew his friend was blaming himself for what happened, John had no time to be reassuring. Instead, he said, "Good, you're back. Tell the botanists that they can't take everything from Greenhouse Five with them, no matter what magical properties their special plants may have."

Rodney, seeing a chance to yell at one of his least favorite sciences, pushed back his guilt and grief and headed off, already calling the botanists 'pitiful morons who couldn't handle real science if it bit them.'

John would have enjoyed a chance to listen to Rodney's speech, but he was called away to deal with an issue with the Marines. Then he was running after the remaining quartermaster about ammunition and other supplies. Then he needed to help Rodney strong arm the botanists out of their greenhouses and labs for the third to last evacuation team.

He spotted Teyla in passing, seeing to a group of linguists as they awaited their dial out.

Ford was checking off Marines and making sure they knew who was still left.

Finally, it was time. John turned to Ferretti, "Get Justin and your team," he said, his voice suddenly hoarse. "No excuses."

Ferretti nodded and left. John watched Elizabeth enter her command code, and then he typed his own, each key feeling like a blow. He nodded to Elizabeth who ordered the gate to begin dialing.

John, unable to accept that they were destroying Atlantis, could barely react to the off world activation, and his head reeled when Chuck declared that the IDC they'd received was from Earth. He noticed Ferretti and Kavanaugh with a reluctant Justin in tow in the room before he was distracted. After three words from the Colonel, John knew, this was not going to end well.


	21. Return

Disclaimer; I do not own Power Rangers or Stargate Atlantis (or any other random mentionings that may have stayed alive through the rewrites.)

A/N: After days of watching the season finale of Stargate Atlantis and rewriting these scenes, I am sad but proud to say that I have finished Wayward Son. Also, I had to bring him back, didn't I?

* * *

Justin regarded his notes, then made a final mark on the floor and nodded. "Justin," Akamu said, walking in with a tray, "You haven't eaten yet."

"I'm not going to," Justin replied, "mind the floor."

Akamu glanced down at the markings, "What are you doing?"

Justin sighed and picked up the case he'd placed the morphers in. "We don't have the time it would take for me to input all the codes the morphers need and make sure it's error free. I have to do this another way."

"I don't understand," Akamu said.

"The Eltareans didn't always have technology to help make morphers," Justin replied, "and I don't have the Command Center and Zordon to do things for me. This is faster than coding, but it requires a few rules, like fasting."

"Do you really?" Akamu asked.

Justin snorted, "And let that high minded, arrogant, egotistical colonel assign T.K. to a place where he'll die before I can get the morphers online?"

Akamu lifted his eyebrow and nodded slightly, "High minded, arrogant," Colonel Everett began.

"Just like every Earthian officer I've ever had the displeasure of meeting," Justin replied, turning around. "Colonel Everett."

"Justin Stewart."

"_Ranger_ Stewart," Justin corrected bluntly. "I'm sure acknowledging my title isn't that hard, even for a gun toting grunt."

"Justin," Akamu said sternly. "I'm sorry, Colonel Everett. I am Akamu."

"Yes, I remember from the reports," Colonel Everett replied with a nod.

"I don't know what's gotten into Justin today," Akamu said, "maybe if he'd eat something."

"I can't," Justin replied.

"What are you doing?" Colonel Everett asked.

Justin smirked, "None of your business. Don't worry. As soon as the Tower's cleared, there won't be a way for the Wraith to get in here. I've made sure of it."

"Justin," Akamu said again.

"And Akamu is my second line of defense." Justin added, "Now, you have a city to defend, while you still can."

"Is that a threat?" Colonel Everett demanded.

"Not this time," Justin replied. "Foresight is a family talent, Colonel. I'm not my brother, who can see actual images, I'm stuck with impressions and gut instinct. That instinct tells me that your arrogance is going to land you in a whole heap of trouble with the Wraith. You should go, and please, keep T.K. alive; we're going to need him soon." He turned away from the Colonel and his escort, dropping his indifferently arrogant look, he mentally pleaded with Akamu to get the Colonel out of the room.

Akamu gave him a long look, then stepped around the pattern on the floor, "Tell me Colonel," he said, "I am told that many of the older fights saw combat in jungle climates as opposed to the deserts of the young soldiers. I am curious; did your bullets prove as effective amongst the trees as they appear to in open ground?"

Justin slid a glance over his shoulder, watching as Akamu guided the Colonel and his escort past the door. Then he touched his left wrist and the doors slid shut. Picking up his tablet, Justin watched as Akamu steered the men out of the tower to one with a transporter. Once Akamu was clear of the Tower's radius and out of site, Justin triggered his seals, deliberately blocking out everyone. Finally, he unhooked his radio and put it on the counter beside the box.

Opening the box, Justin regarded the five morphers inside resignedly. "If they break this team," Justin said, speaking to the building Power and the Ghosts of the Grid, "I will never forgive any of you." Then he picked up the five morphers and stepped into the design as the Power broke about him in waves of blue.

/

Justin stood on a grassy hillside, under a crisp blue summer sky. He looked around and then down at himself. "Why do I always look twelve in the Grid?" He muttered.

"Because you still see yourself as twelve," an amused voice replied.

Justin turned, unable to keep the smile off his face, "Zordon," he said and bowed, "It's good to see you."

"And you," replied Zordon of Eltare.

This was no floating visage of an old man, no; this was a young man who looked no older than eighteen, with long, chestnut brown hair and vibrant blue eyes. Dressed in a black shirt and pants with a knee length purple vest and purple, knee high boots, Zordon of Eltare was every inch the Ranger and warrior he'd once been. "It's been a while," Justin commented, "a lot has changed."

"I've seen," Zordon replied. "Justin, you were not brought to Atlantis by the Ghosts of the Grid. Nor did the ones they call the Ancients influence your journey."

"Imp of the perverse," Justin said with a shrug, "I figured as much."

"You are happy there," Zordon said softly.

"Sometimes," Justin replied, "but, do I have to do this?"

"You are needed Justin," Zordon replied. "In another time, events conspired to give Atlantis victory in this battle, but your presence has changed those events. Now, Atlantis cannot possibly hope to escape the attention of the Wraith without you."

Justin nodded reluctantly, "I suspected as much. Will you help me finish these? The Wraith are already here and more are coming." He held out the morphers.

"A bargain," Zordon replied.

"Name your price," Justin said wearily.

"You, Justin, will undertake to develop morphers for Earth, and others that have need." Zordon replied, "You will take a Key to the Grid back with you to create a Ranger force where before there were none."

Justin hesitated, considering the price and what it could cost him. He knew what carrying a Key would lead to in his world, but in this new world, with an untamed Grid, the prices could be beyond imaginable. Then he thought of T.K., Jenna, and Keoni, so far from home and wanting to see their people again, and Akamu, who was literally the last of his kind. "I'll do it," Justin said.

Zordon's smile was sad, "Thank you, Justin." He held out his hand and the rainbow light of pure Power flowed into the morphers. In a matter of moments, the bulky wrist devices Justin had constructed had changed, becoming more of a gauntlet than a wrist device. "It is done."

"Thank you," Justin replied.

Zordon took a silver chain with a skeleton key on it, "Your Key to the Grid," he said and slid it over Justin's head. "With it, you may tap the Grid of your dimension and tame it."

Justin nodded, "I will."

Zordon rested his hands on Justin's shoulders, "It wasn't ever easy for you, amongst my Rangers, Justin. I am sorry I could not have been there longer, to be able to help you deal with what happened."

"It's ok," Justin said, "I learned a lot from all of them. Maybe I'm not always happy about what I learned, but I don't regret learning it."

"Spoken like a true Blue," Zordon replied with a brief laugh. "You need to get back, Justin; you have a world to save after all."

"You know what they say," Justin replied as he stepped back, "Once a Ranger, always a Ranger."

"Take care of yourself, Justin of Atlantis, as much as you take care of your team." Zordon replied as he lifted his hand in a wave, "May the Power protect you in all that you do."

"May good fortune find you, Zordon," Justin replied as the world began to fade.


	22. It's Morphing Time

Disclaimer: I still don't own SGA or PRT or any other.

A/N: Full notes in the epilogue.

* * *

The world snapped into focus in the room Justin had left, it was dark, though, and Justin could only hope that things had gone well. He hurried over, slid the morphers into their case again, and shut it, watching as a flash of light embossed a new symbol on the outside. Justin grinned a little as he traced the designs, these were nothing like what the ninjas had used, or, indeed, had any bearing on the martial arts that his old teams had favored.

Except for keeping his hand to hand strong, Justin had lost interest in karate after he'd left the Rangers. A chance friendship in college had introduced him to a whole different world, not just of fighting, but something complex enough that Justin had seized on the SCA to fill a void left by the Rangers. His youth had denied him entrance into the actual fighting, but he'd learned a lot of other skills, including heraldry. He touched each animal, a lion rampant, a wolf passant, a bull statant, an eagle displayed, and a hind dormant; finally, he traced the Pegasus symbol of the Atlantis mission in the center.

Then Justin shook his head and retrieved the backpack he'd acquired from T.K. from his lab and slid the box within. After settling the bag on his back, Justin picked up his radio and slid it in his ear. The radio was silent for a long moment, "Doctor Weir," Justin said, "This is Justin Stewart."

"Justin! Thank God, you're ok. We haven't heard from you for hours." Elizabeth replied.

"I'm sorry," Justin replied, "I needed to finish the morphers. I need the Rangers to meet me in the Gate Room. We can morph and join the defense where ever we're needed."

"Justin, the Wraith are in the City. I'm not sure it's wise for you to leave your shield." Elizabeth said.

Justin laughed as he headed for the armory, "I have some weapons out here, more in the shop off the jumper bay if these prove effective. I'll be there as soon as I can. If it makes you feel better, I'll see if I can get a military escort."

"It would, actually," Elizabeth said.

"It's settled then," Justin replied. "I'll meet the Rangers in the Gate Room."

/

T.K. was walking with Ferretti and some of the Atlantis marines when his radio came to life; he lifted his fist to halt the group as Dr Weir spoke, "Lieutenant Kavanaugh?"

"Here Doctor Weir," T.K. replied.

"Your presence is requested in the Gate Room as part of Project Ranger," Dr Weir said, "please hurry as safely as you can."

T.K. turned to Ferretti, "Yes Doctor Weir," he said.

"Go," Ferretti told him, "We'll be fine."

"Yes sir," T.K. said with a quick salute, he turned and began to jog back to one of the stairwells that would take him up.

He arrived at the Gate Room moments before Keoni, Akamu, and Jenna arrived. Doctor Weir was pacing on the landing above the Gate, "Doctor Weir," Akamu said.

"Justin's coming," Dr. Weir said, turning to look at them. "He's making his way on foot because of the damage around the tower."

"Should I," T.K. began.

"No," Dr Weir cut him off, "Justin has the morphers, he needs the Rangers. You will be here when he gets here."

/

Justin cursed silently as he watched the four Wraith approach a generator. He shifted the blaster he'd nicknamed the Wraith Burner in his hands, preparing to swing out, and open fire. Machine gun fire put paid to that idea as three soldiers, including Colonel Everett, came out of the shadows. The three drone Wraith surged into the gun fire, firing back with their stunners. One of the soldiers went down, and the Colonel and his other soldier moved quickly out of the way. Justin calculated his shot again and surged forward, "Ware fighters," he shouted before unleashing his first blast. It caught the lead Wraith square on, sending the creature against a wall and the second burnt it to a crisp, leaving only a grease and ash outline. Justin pivoted and fired again on one of the drones. He ducked and rolled a stunner shot and fired back. Realizing the Burner needed to recharge, Justin let it go as he straightened and drew his sword before targeting the last two Wraiths.

When they were done, Colonel Everett and his man appeared, "What," Colonel Everett began.

Justin cleaned his sword and retracted it. "They're stupid, but strong. I need to keep moving."

"What are you doing?" Everett asked.

"I have to get to the Gate Room," Justin replied, checking the Burner. "I need to get these morphers to the new Ranger team before the hive ships enter orbit. If we can get them activated and in their Zords, we'll buy more time for the Daedalus to get here." He tapped the gun for a moment, "There are some more of these in a workshop off the jumper bay, Colonel, I designed them to help fight the Wraith, but they're not perfect. I'll work on that later." He adjusted the Burner and started to move away.

Everett grabbed his arm, "Stewart."

Justin pulled himself free, "I don't answer to you." Then he turned and broke into a run.

He arrived in the gate room with Everett on his heels, as he'd anticipated. Grinning at T.K.'s look, Justin shrugged off the pack and pulled out the case, "Are you ok?" Jenna asked as Justin flipped the case open."

"Never better," Justin replied. "T.K., Jenna, Akamu, Keoni, this is your last chance to back out."

"We fight," T.K. said.

"We fight," the other three said in unison.

"_We_ fight," Justin agreed. He picked up T.K.'s morpher, "you break this team, and there is no place in the universe you can hide from me."

T.K. said nothing, only pulled the morpher on. Justin handed off the others, and then lifted his own and slid it on. For a moment, Justin studied the gauntlet like device that covered his arm and the Power Crystal in the palm. "Ready?" T.K. asked, wincing at Colonel Everett's demanding shout.

They all nodded and stepped back, forming a circle. "It's Morphin' Time," T.K. declared, "Red Ranger Power."

Justin couldn't help following quickly, "Blue Ranger Power."

Akamu followed him so fast they nearly overlapped, "Yellow Ranger Power."

Keoni took a breath before saying, "Green Ranger Power."

Jenna came last, without hesitation, "Pink Ranger Power."

Justin closed his eyes as the Power filled him, so like yet different from the Turbo power. It was wild, surging through him with unstoppable force. Opening his eyes, Justin saw the uniforms he'd designed for the first time. Jenna didn't have a skirt, of if she did; it wasn't visible under the surcoat design that they all had. The skin tight under suit was a darker shade of their color, although Jenna's probably would be mauve instead of 'dark pink'. The knee length surcoats were the more traditional vibrant colors, each with their animal on them. T.K. had the lion, Keoni the wolf, Jenna the hind, Akamu the ox leaving Justin with the eagle. Their helmets were similar to an open faced knight's helm with the black of the visors where the eyes would normally look out. They were, Justin was somewhat relieved to note, free of the feathers or other such additions. He wasn't sure the others would handle it.

"Knights," Keoni said looking around, "interesting."

"We'll discuss that later," T.K. said, looking at Justin. "Doctor Weir, do you want us on the ground or in the air?"

Dr Weir, standing on the balcony looking down at them frowned for a moment, "Air support," she said finally. "John and Rodney are having issues with the chair."

"Right," T.K. said, he looked at Justin, "Zords?"

Justin sighed, struck a pose, and called, "Freed by Fire, Mountain Raider!"

The others followed shortly.

T.K. went first, "Born of the Storm, Lightning Raider."

Then Keoni, "Scoured by the Sands, Desert Raider."

Then Akamu, "Chased by the Sun, Star Raider."

Finally Jenna, "Rising from the depths, Wave Raider."

The words were barely out of their mouths when they were transported to the awaiting Zords above; "Cool, Dragons!"


	23. Return to Earth?

In the end, although the Rangers and their dragon themed Zords were able to hold back the Wraiths until the _Daedalus_ and her ZPM arrived, it was Sheppard who conceived of the plan to fake destroy the city. When that tactic proved successful, the Rangers joined in to pull down the last of the Wraith, saving Colonel Everett from being fed on in the process. They were unable to save Ford however, and Justin could only trust that the Power would look out for the other man as he escaped out the Gate.

"Power Down," T.K. said finally, as they stood in the Gate Room once again. "We're done," he added.

Justin gripped T.K.'s shoulder, "We're done, for now."

"Get some rest," Dr Weir told them as she approached, "You have all done fine work today. We will be returning to Earth soon, including you, Justin."

"Me?" Justin replied, "Why would I want to do that?"

"People want to meet you," Dr Weir replied, "and Storm Blaster too."

"Great," Justin muttered.

"It won't be that terrible," T.K. told him.

"You don't understand," Justin replied, spreading his hands out, "I have to register Storm Blaster on Earth if he's going to drive me around and those custom car forms take _forever_ to get finished."

* * *

A/N: With Wayward Son finally done, I take this time to share a few thoughts on this story.

1. The scene of Justin saving Colonel Everett was in my mind practically from the beginning, although I didn't know the Colonel's name at the time.

2. Yes, they have a knight and dragon based power, mostly because it just sounded fun.

3. Akamu is human, mostly, he has Eltarean ancestors, but their abilities have mostly faded out of the genetic pool.

4. I don't know how someone who builds their car from the ground up makes them registered street legal, I just invision there being a lot of paperwork. Justin knows this because T.J. was in that same delimma and was the one who got Storm Blaster registered before 'giving' him to Justin as a 'birthday gift' with Zhane's help.

5. I am not affiliated with the SCA and I don't really know much about them. What I was able to determine about them is shown here in that Justin (who left when he turned 18, remember,) wouldn't have gotten much in the way of combat training, but there were a lot of things he could learn. I did some research into the heraldry of the ranger insignia and uniforms as well. I can't describe the animals well, but the uniforms are something like the Ninja Storm designs. Also, I have this mental image of canon Justin as part of the SCA and having the Astros around for his first tournament...something tells me that Zhane, Andros, and Karone at an SCA event would be hilarious. ('So this is about people from Earth who get together and pretend to be even more technologically backwards than they actually are?')

6. This story was somewhat inspired by the Kansas song "Carry On My Wayward Son" (as heard on Supernatural actually). There is a sequal in the works which will actually focus more on Jenna than Justin which is currently untitled but features this very promising scene: Jenna eyed the silver clad, white haired man for a long moment before turning to his Hispanic, black clad companion, "So you're one of those idiots who hurt Justin so badly." Then she took two quick steps forward and landed a punch on the man's chin just as Justin had taught her.


End file.
